KH3 Another Side, Another Story
by rikufanattic
Summary: CH.43 The epilogue, this is just the beginning of the end. RikuxOC
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Another Side, Another Story  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything that deals with Square Enix, never have never will.  
**Summary:** Riku's been dealing with some issues since his two best friends have decided to start a relationship, yet even a complete stranger can prove to help him out. What's more is that this stranger is no stranger to the darkness, could this person help unravel the dark past of the Keyblade War, and the Chasers?

**Chapter: **Destati

"Hey Riku, you aren't coming?"

"Naw, I'm good here, you two go ahead."

"Are you sure?"

"Don't worry about it Sora, I have some things to do here anyway," the teenager waited for his friend to finish speaking once more, "Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll talk to you later." With that he clicked, and stuffed his cell phone back into his pocket.

The boy walked down the shores of the beach, letting the afternoon sun touch his skin. Riku was wearing a white sleeveless, with black cargo pants, and stripped shoes. He still looked the same as he did a couple of months ago when he finally came back home. His other friends had remembered him, and they did forgive him for the sins he committed in the past, they knew he did something wrong, just that they never bothered to ask what it was.

Riku's turquoise eyes scanned the clear water of the beach, and seemed to be shimmering, just like it always did. He sat down at stared out into the ocean, collecting his thoughts just relaxing. And that's all he ever did, he just relaxed.

'_We'll be the darkness…'_ those were the very words he said to Sora. Now that the light was restored the darkness was the only thing left.

Other than that there were other things on his mind. He was happy that Sora and Kairi decided to start dating each other, but he didn't always want to tag along with them. They needed their space, so he figured leaving them be sometimes was good for them.

Riku never really cared about dating, he was always busy training to always get better than Sora. To be honest he never thought about dating, or going out by himself. The only time he could be found by himself, alone, was only when he went to island where the three of them use to play as children.

Sure at times he would go out, but that was only when he felt really bored. A lot of people would just call him lazy, and maybe they had a good reason to do that…

At that point his phone rang out a melody, and Riku blinked for a couple of seconds. _'Who is it now?'_ he thought while he answered the phone.

"Riku, Sora told me you can't come, is that true?"

"Yeah, but don't worry Kairi, I'll be okay. You two deserve some time alone together."

"Wha, Riku?!" she protested.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do, you two!" Riku said teasing the two of them.

"Yeah we'll be on our best behavior," Sora's voice could be heard in the background.

"All right then Riku, we'll talk to you later."

Then there was silence, and he placed his phone back into his pocket. He was getting ready to head back home. _'I think I'm just getting lazy…'_ he thought as he made it down the pier to his boat.

_**Now to Sora and Kairi…**_

Sora walked alongside Kairi, and both were talking about their friend Riku. The wine-red haired girl looked at her crush, and sighed. The brunette just looked at her feeling a bit confused about the whole thing.

"He's been acting like this since we started to date," Kairi said staring at the ground as they walked. "You think he's feeling left out?"

"I don't think so, I think he's just giving us some space," Sora said trying to cheer up his date.

"Hey, you know what, we should by him some sea-salt ice cream later on." She said.

"Yeah that's a good idea. I just really think he needs a girlfriend…"

"Are we gonna start this all over again?"

"I'm just saying…"

Kairi just sighed and decided to just let it go. In part Sora did seem to hold some truth into what he just said. They both did start to think that Riku needed to start dating, either that, or at least go out some more.

"He's just getting lazy." They both said.

About a couple of feet away from them there was a park. The two teenagers decided that they should hang out there for the day. Sora picked out a spot under one of the big trees that was there. There were a couple of hills here and there, and it was very green. Kairi spotted out a little puppy that was running around.

"It's so cute," Kairi said pointing out to Sora. "I wish I could have one…"

"That thing? It's so… so little…" he frowned a bit looking at the puppy.

"It is a puppy after all…" Kairi remarked.

The puppy was coming closer towards them, and the owner was nowhere to be seen for now at least. Sora tried to shoo the animal away, he thought it belonged to some crazy person. He had a bad experience when a cat was following him because he smelled like tuna, and some lady thought he was abducting cats…

Kairi patted the puppy softly, and smiled at the little thing. It had these curious looking ears with a lot of fur sticking out. It had a black and tan tinted coat, it looked like a terrier, or some sort of mix.

Kairi was watching the dog as it was sniffing the area where Sora was sitting. He was blissfully unaware of the situation.

"Sora, I think that dog has to use the potty…"

"He can go around."

"But I don't think he can hold it…"

In the distance the most awful sound ever known to man could be heard at least two blocks away. Birds were scared out of the trees, and a couple of people looked at the problem.

"…" Sora blinked and looked at the side of his shirt. It was very moist, and it had a bad smell to it. He just stared at the puppy still trying to figure out what had happened to him. "I got peed on… It actually peed on me…"

"I was trying to tell you to move…" Kairi couldn't help but laugh at this whole thing.

The animals ears perked up, and it looked ahead, it could see someone running towards them. It was person around their age. She was wearing a pair of jeans, and a black shirt with the word 'The Black Mages' printed in white, and black sport shoes with yellow stripes on them. She had light brown skin, and dark brown hair with blue streaks. Her eyes were of a dark color, probably a dark brown.

"Chico, bad dog," she said waving a finger to the dog, and scolding him with her firm voice. She turned to Kairi and Sora, "I'm really sorry if he was any trouble, he likes coming here from time to time…"

"We're okay…It's just that…" Kairi then explained what had happened.

"Oh that… He does that to people he doesn't like," the owner said feeling a bit embarrassed. "I'm really sorry he did that… Sora was it?" she said looking at the blue eyed teen.

"Yeah, but don't worry I'll live…" he said starting to take off his stained shirt. He had an extra shirt underneath.

"I-..I can wash it for you if you like." She offered. "I'm really sorry we ruined your date though…" she bowed slightly. She noted the blush on the other two, and smiled. "We'll be on our way then, come on Chico let's go." And with that they walked away.

_**Now to Riku…**_

Riku was walking down the sidewalk, trying to play that game the little kids use to play, the one where you use to avoid stepping on the cracks. He frowned as he saw his foot underneath one of the cracks, even as a little kid he could never do it all the way.

Riku pushed some of the silver strands away from his face, he was pretty close to his house, and it wasn't that far away from the park where Sora and Kairi were at. _'I could really go for some sea-salt ice-cream,'_ he thought as he started to get a craving for it.

"Chico, hey!" a girl yelled out close to his house.

Riku looked at the scene and noted that she was trying to get her dog back; it had wandered into his yard. She looked around, and stepped onto his lawn, and snatched the dog up. It ended up getting away from her though as it had struggled in her arms, and she couldn't hold on to the animal.

Riku was still on his way to house and decided to help the girl, if she still couldn't get her dog. He felt something tug on the lace of his right shoe, he looked down and saw the puppy playfully pull the lace, it growled at the shoe.

"Chico, hey leave that guy alone." The girl said in a firm voice. At that moment the puppy went back to the owner's side.

Riku finally let his eyes catch a glimpse of the owner. She had light brown skin, with blue streaks on her dark brown hair, she looked to be Kairi's age. She wore a fan made shirt with the name of a band called 'The Black Mages', with jeans and black tennis shoes with yellow stripes. He was able to make out that she had dark colored eyes.

"He's been causing some trouble today…" she said shyly, as she finally looked at Riku, and noticed what he was wearing. She stared down at the ground, and then looked at her puppy. "He peed on some guy today…" she finally picked the puppy up and held him tight.

Riku let out a small laugh, "Really?"

"Yeah…" she said laughing a little. "Do you live far from here?" she asked.

"No, you stepped on my lawn earlier," he pointed out giving her a small hint.

She looked back at the lawn she was previously on. The house was pretty small, it had a beige color to it with the window panes in a light tan color. She looked back at Riku and felt a bit more embarrassed, "Oh… He didn't do anything on your lawn, if that's what you're worried about…" she said looking at the puppy in her arms.

"How about you, where do you live?" he asked trying to get her a bit more comfortable. "Is it far from here?"

"No," she shook her head, "I live a block away from here." She said turning her head in the direction where she lived. In that moment she heard a small growling noise, she looked at her dog, but it wasn't him.

"That was me…" Riku said she saw that he had blushed a bit.

"You're hungry… what have you been doing all day?"

"Relaxing…" he said honestly.

"…You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," he said giving a big smile.

"Well me and my dog we're going to get some sea-salt ice-cream, do you want to go?" she said pulling out a leash from her back pocket, she hooked it up to the dog's collar.

"Yeah, all right…" at this point he didn't know what her name was.

"That's right, we didn't introduce ourselves…" she outstretched her hand, "My friends call me Selma."

"My name's Riku." He said shaking her hand. He then bent down and stroked the dog's fur mainly on top of his head, "and this must be Chico."

It had been about a good three weeks since that day, and a strong bond was formed from then on. Riku and Selma became inseparable, wherever one was there the other was right behind, no doubt about it. Kairi and Sora never met her personally, but Riku talked to them about her.

Kairi took a great note on how Riku acted around them now, he was a bit more cheerful than how he had been weeks before, and he was spending a bit more time with them. Other than that it was right as rain, well sort of anyway.

The silver haired teenager was walking down the block where Selma said she had lived. In his eyes she was a good friend, though she never talked so much about herself. He was surprised that she showed him where she lived. It had gotten dark the day he met her, and so maybe that was why she let him walk her home.

Selma was just waiting by the steps of her home, with Chico sleeping at her side. Her dark colored eyes spotted Riku from a couple of houses away. She waved to him, and he waved back at her.

"Did you bring it?" she called out.

"Hello to you too, Selma," he said jokingly.

"Sorry!" she shook her head.

He walked up the steps and sat next to Chico, he placed the black notebook at his side, and just sighed in relief.

"Did you tell your mom I said 'hi'?" she asked curious about the other day.

"Yeah, she says 'hi' too." He said.

"She seems really nice."

"You're mom's nicer though, she's cool."

"I'm glad to hear you think so," a women said opening the screen door, she was a middle aged woman, with brownish curly like hair. She was wearing an apron, she had just finished cooking.

"So, lunch is ready, Mamì?" she asked turning around.

"Yes it is. Riku, you know you're always welcomed to come and join us." She said.

"Thanks very much, Mrs. Hikari." He said politely.

"I'll call the two of you when I have the others at the table."

"Wait, **all** of us?" Selma asked a bit bewildered.

"I'm making everybody's favorite, Fettuccini with chicken breast, and that creamy sauce you like."

"Hey, then Riku, will you be able to stay and eat with us?" Selma asked him.

"Yeah, I'll stay then, besides I like you're mom's cooking."

"At the rate this is going, your mom might as well just give me the adoption forms… You practically spend more time here…" Mrs. Hikari said in a joking manner as she walked back inside the house.

As Mrs. Hikari left Selma heard the little jingle that sounded a lot like Chico's collar. She looked around and noted that Chico had just woken up, the smell of the food had gotten to him. She let him back inside the house, and sat back down on the steps.

"So then, Riku, how have you been feeling today?"

"Good, I guess you could say."

"Have you been spending some more time with Sora and Kairi?"

"Yep."

"Why were you avoiding them anyway?"

"I thought it was because I felt they needed some time alone… But now that I think about it, it was because I was a bit jealous…" he said embarrassed to admit it.

"Now why was that?" she asked, trying to get him to open up a bit more.

"I… I had this small crush on Kairi, but I knew she liked Sora… And I accepted it…"

"See that wasn't so hard to say!" she said patting him on the back.

"No, no it wasn't…" he said a bit surprised himself. _'I've only known her for a while, but she's been the only one who listens to me…I feel bad I don't ask her so many questions…'_ he thought for a moment.

"Oh yeah, hey did you write down your story?" she asked breaking his moment of thought.

"Umm, oh yeah..." he handed her the black notebook.

"So all of this really happened?" she asked reading what was written in the notebook. _'He has beautiful penmanship… Hell it's even better than mines, no offence but he writes like a girl,'_ she thought for a moment.

"You don't think I'm crazy?"

"Nope, in fact I believe you… You see the reason is because…"

"Hey you two, everybody else is ready!" another female called out from the doorway.

"That was my older sister…" she answered before Riku could even ask. "You would've meet them sooner or later…" she smiled. "Let's go and eat."

**A/N: All right it seemed a bit dull but trust me it will get better... Poor Sora though he got peed on by a dog...**


	2. Life, and Bonnie Pink, plus IceCream…

**A/N: Whoo hoo I got a review.**

**KH meerkats: Thank you for the review! Did you know that Riku has really pretty handwriting?**

**Anyway… This chapter is dedicated to a very nice reviewer, and another friend, who wants Riku to wear leather pants… Enjoy!**

**Chapter 2:**, Life, and Bonnie Pink, plus Ice-Cream…

"So then, this is, Riku?" it was the same lady that had called them to eat lunch.

Selma just sighed as she was being pestered by her older sibling. Her name real name was Tachigami, but she liked being called Monica. She was two years older than Riku, and she had black shoulder lengthened hair. She wore a purple top, and some navy colored shorts.

"How long have you two known each other?" she asked, looking back at Selma.

"A couple of weeks."

"So then Riku, you're really close with my sister?"

They were at the table when she asked that question. Everyone who was there stopped what they were doing, somebody dropped a fork, which landed on someone's toe, and a lot of curse words were directed to the poor fork.

"Who in their right mind would wear leather pants?!" a young sibling shouted out.

"My friend…" Selma tried to defend her new friend. "This little one is Kazegami. The one yelling at the fork is Moegami, but we call him Moe."

Both of the two siblings had spiky orange and brown eyes, with light colored skin. They were twins, around the age of 15. They were a bit short, so they got mistaken a lot to be around 11 years old.

"Nice to meet you all," Riku bowed to people in front of him.

"You don't really have to bow." Another male said. He was a more masculine version of Monica. He went by the name of Yomigami, but he liked to be called Yuki. "It's nice to meet you, Riku." He shook his hand, "You can call me Yuki."

"It's about damn time, she's always talking about you." Someone said in back of Riku. Riku and Selma turned around, "The name's Geki," his full name was Gekigami. He was wearing a black long sleeved shirt, with some tight jeans, and he light brown skin as well as short black hair. Riku shook his hand, and nodded.

"How much do you talk about me?" Riku whispered to his friend.

"Not that much… Honest," she whispered back as they were going to the wooden table.

"Hey you two pick up pace, the foods going to get cold!" Monica instructed as she saw Geki finally sit down.

"Hey, wait, where's Mamì?"

"I'm coming hold on, just getting the salad."

"Hey is Dad coming today?"

"I think he's going to be late dears."

"Sweet hey the salad's here!"

"Monica, stop hogging the salad!"

Selma just smiled at the scene, and started to take a bite out of her salad. Riku was sitting right next to her, and he looked at his pants. He made this little face where he ended up scrunching his nose. She just shook her head, and smacked him gently over the head.

"There's nothing wrong with the pants, just eat your food Riku!" she whispered to him.

"…Ow…"

"Don't smack your guest dear, that's rude." Mrs. Hikari instructed her daughter.

"Sorry, Mamì…" she said and sunk into her chair.

Geki and Yuki were snickering at their little sister, but Monica gave them a glare. Other than that everyone was eating their food. The puppy was just sitting at the table waiting for someone to slip him some food, but Chico didn't like pasta.

Mrs. Hikari and her husband told their children at a very young age that the table was a place for someone to eat, not talk. It was very quiet at the table, and Riku felt a bit out of place, he was use to having people around him talk.

An hour past, and after playing rock, paper, scissors, Selma ended up having to wash the dishes. She smacked which ever sibling forgot to clean their plate, she loathed having to throw the leftovers in the trash.

Mrs. Hikari and the others went about their daily things, and Riku left Selma alone to go and get his notebook that he left sitting on the steps. Though when he finally made it out of the house, it wasn't there anymore, it was nowhere to be found. He heard a familiar dog growl beside him.

Riku looked down and noticed the dog had something in his mouth. _'That's MY notebook!'_ he thought to himself.

"Give it here, Chico…" he whispered trying not to make so much noise, but the dog moved farther and farther away from him. "Chico…" he said in a stern voice losing his patience with the animal. He started to chase the puppy around the yard within a matter of seconds.

Selma was almost done with the last plate when she heard someone yell. She quickly left the dish alone, and dried her hands with the blue towel, and slung it over her shoulder. She walked out down the hall, and went to see what was going on. There on the green grass was a guy with turquoise eyes just staring at the blue colored sky.

"Tell your dog to give me back my notebook…" he said whispering.

Selma just walked towards him, jumping off of the last step. She found her self being stabbed with Riku's gaze, but she just smiled. Riku sat up and frowned at her, he tried to call Chico again, but he ran into the house.

"He'll leave it back where he found it…" she said patting the teen's head.

"How can you be so calm about it?" he asked.

"Eh, you get use to it…" she said fiddling with the towel over her shoulder.

They went back inside the house, and Selma found the notebook not that far from the front door. She scanned through the black notebook to make sure none of the pages were bitten off, or eaten. She found nothing wrong with the book, and handed it back to the owner.

"The good thing is that nothing's missing from it… The bad thing is…" she paused for a moment, "you write like a girl."

"Like a girl?" he repeated, looking at his notebook.

"Yeah, you write more like a girl than I do, and I'm a girl."

"Girls wear leather pants!" someone said in the background.

"No one's talking to you, Geki!" the sister said coming to her friend's defense.

The teen entrusted his friend with his notebook, and it was her duty to keep it away from everyone, they were meant for her eyes only. Then after that, Riku decided it was best if they just went outside again, he felt a bit weird for wearing his leather pants now. Selma tried to tell him that there was nothing wrong with wearing them, but she had to go and say that they were a bit tight on him.

"Great…"

"Sorry… Just had to point it out…"

Riku just scratched his head and gave an embarrassing laugh. He went on to asking why none of her family members spoke during lunch.

"It's something my mom told us when we were little, that the table is a place to eat, and not talk…" she stated, "Also it's a place to do homework and stuff, but we do talk at the table almost often, you just caught us on one of our quiet days."

"Oh. Hey, where's your dad?"

"He's working, and he doesn't come until 5 or late at night. He works as a computer technician, but since that business is becoming more and more popular; almost anyone can start applying for the job."

"You're dad must make about a thousand, no?"

"No, when you subtract the social security and health stuff, and all the other things, he ends up with about 400 to 500 a week… Life isn't all it's cracked up to be…"

"What do you mean?"

"Everyday… You think something exciting is going to happen, but sometimes you're just stuck doing the same old thing… It gets kind of boring, but I mean to me, it just falls under a regular routine. I don't really have the best memory in the world, because I forget stuff really fast, it just doesn't interest me… It sounds so stupid…"

"Hey look do… do you sleep a lot for the remainder of the day?"

"No… Why?"

"Just don't do it, it's not the best thing to do."

"O…kay…" she looked at him with a strange look.

"You know, you know what I'm talking about it…"

"I'm just talking about life, but here you are saying something about sleeping…" she said.

"Selma…"

"I'm not depressed if that's what you're thinking," she put two and two together, "… Just because I can't remember a whole mess of stuff, it doesn't mean I'm depressed… Mostly I give you advice on stuff like that…"

"Just giving you some advice in return," he tried to finish his sentence.

"That's a lie, you think I am starting to get depressed…"

"No, no I'm just saying not to."

"Why are you telling me this, now?" she said sounding a bit annoyed now. She knew how to handle her emotions and what not, but he had no right in believing she was acting depressed.

"Because… because I've done that before. You hide yourself in this little hole, just watching as time passes you by, without caring what happens around you…"

"Does this look like the face of a depressed person?" her face was serious.

"…"

"I didn't think so, but thanks for the advice…" she stood up and dusted her shoulder. "Anyway, you want to go get some ice-cream?"

"Ice-cream?"

"Did I stutter…?" she said looking at him, putting on a funny face.

"Are you buying?"

"**No**…" she said in a serious tone, or at least it sounded like one.

"… Okay, that was sarcastically mean…" Riku said standing up.

Selma laughed, and told the silver haired teen to wait for her while she changed into some other clothes. She came out wearing a striped purple and black shirt, with some black jeans, and checkered shoes.

"All right then, let's go." She said taking his arm and pulling him forward.

"Hey! Are you trying to trip me?"

"I'd be lying if I said no!" she said starting to run away from him.

"You're such a girl!" Riku yelled running after his friend.

Inside the house Mrs. Hikari, Monica, and Yomigami were watching the two teens run down the street. The three of them were laughing a bit, and they were glad that Selma had someone with a good head on their shoulder for a friend.

"So you think she's told him her real name?" Monica said looking at her mother and oldest brother.

"Nope," Yomigami shook his head.

"Just give her some time, she'll get out of her shell." Their mother said. "Besides if anyone can get her to talk it's that Riku boy."

"Why?" Yomigami asked.

"Do you really have to ask?" Monica said looking at her brother.

"What are you talking about, Tachigami?" he addressed his sister.

"He's really good looking if you haven't noticed." Monica said.

"I was going to say something else dear…" Mrs. Hikari said holding the black notebook in her hands. "But I guess we can also say that."

"So then, what do we do now?" Monica said looking at the black notebook in her mother's grasp.

"Absolutely nothing, we'll let destiny lead them the way."

Monica was too busy to notice what her mother said, she was able to get the notebook that Riku had entrusted Selma to guard. She was flipping through the pages until a word caught her eye.

'_Bonnie Pink – Last Kiss'_

"Hey that's Amaterasu's favorite song." Monica said.

"Are the lyrics in there?" Yuki asked curiously.

"It says… 'Turn the page'." And she did what it said. "There's nothing…" she said a bit confused. "Naw, you know, I bet it's invisible ink…"

"He probably was looking for the English translation." Yuki said.

'_It's bitter like beer for kids…'_

"There you go…" Monica said holding the paper to some light.

_**At the ice-cream place not to far away…**_

Selma and Riku had stopped running, after Riku had tripped due to foul play with a towel. He accused his friend of cheating, and she didn't deny it. He had the blue towel over his head so he grabbed it, and he threw it back at her. She stumbled forward.

"Sore loser…" she said shaking her head a bit.

They entered the ice-cream shop, and decided to sit down in the corner of the area. Both of them were a bit tired from running, it that just made them want some ice-cream some more.

They finished purchasing their own cone of sea-salt ice-cream, and as Selma was paying another pair of people walked in. Riku turned around and his eyes went wide for a moment. Selma came from behind and handed him his cone. Though when she saw he wasn't taking it, she also looked in his direction.

"Hey that's the guy my dog peed on." She said licking her cone. She handed Riku his cone. "Here take it."

He took the cone and stared at it for a moment, "Thanks…"

"It's going to melt, come on let's go to the table."

Still the two people Riku saw had no idea that neither he nor Selma was there. They sat down and at that moment he heard a familiar voice. The two of them turned around, Riku sighed and Selma just shook her head.

"Riku, hey there you are. I was trying to call you, but you didn't pick up your cell phone…" Sora said sitting down right next to him.

"I left it at home…" Riku said trying to enjoy the ice-cream.

Kairi and Selma looked at each other and smiled, they remembered who the other was. Though Kairi never got a chance to ask her, her name, she thought it was the girl Riku talked about.

"So then, this is who you're with when you have **things to do**…" Sora said looking at Selma as she and Kairi were talking.

"This is Selma, the girl with the dog who peed on you." Riku said letting Sora get a good look at the girl.

"Wait the same one you talk about with us?"

"I don't talk that much about you… Honest…" Riku whispered to his new friend.

"Li…" she licked her ice-cream, "…ar…"

"Riku your ice-cream's melting…" Kairi said pointing to the light bluish stain on his white shirt.

"Hey what's with the leather pants?" Sora asked.

"Not that again…" Selma and Riku said groaning.


	3. The King’s Seal and Snow

**A/N: Yeah I know so the leather pants made me a bit weird too… **

**Anyway, if you want you can request what you want me to put in the next chapter, and I WILL try my best to make everything meet. **

**Thanks, reviewers you keep me going! **

**Chapter THREE:** The King's Seal and Snow

The sun was slowly starting to set as the night was finally going to pop up. Everyone said their goodbyes, and the two groups of people went their own separate way. Riku went as far as to leave Selma at her house, and Sora probably did the same thing to Kairi. The night was starting to pave the way into darkness, and a new day would come up… It had been two weeks since the leather pants were worn…

The afternoon sun was hitting Kairi's back as she was running up a hill. She ignored the fact that some people were calling her. _'I can't give up now…'_ she thought holding on tight to a clear bottle.

Going up the hill was the hard part, but it was running down the hill that was a bit harder for her. She had to control her speed so she wouldn't end up tripping over her feet. She breathed in and out trying to run as fast as she could.

Kairi had found the bottle washed up on shore on the other side of island where they use to play as kids. The green seal was the only thing that caught her eye, if it wasn't for that then there would've been no point in running.

She rushed past the small field of wildflowers and with each step she made she was getting closer to her friends, but farther away from home. Her blue eyes scanned the clearing where the paopu fruit was growing.

Meanwhile, while Kairi was running her little heart out, Riku and Sora were both talking about, well guy stuff.

"Hey have you given her a paopu fruit yet?" Sora said looking at the tree for a moment.

"I don't… Have you given Kairi a paopu fruit?" Riku asked avoiding his question.

"I'll do it, but I mean she wasn't everything to be romantic so…"

"Then do it when she's least expecting it."

"What?"

"You know what I mean…" he was going to say something else but he stopped.

In the distance the teen with the pink outfit finally made it to the area, she was panting and gasping, like if she had ran away from a lion or something. Sora took no time grabbing the bottle, as it clearly bore some kind of message of urgency.

He wrapped his fingers around the little cork and with a slight _pop_ out came the long awaited news. His blue eyes held some kind of happiness as he held the paper under his trembling fingers. _'It was going to happen sooner or later,'_ Sora thought reading the paper.

_Dear Sora, Riku, and Kairi, _

_It's been a while hasn't it? Of course we all knew this day would come sooner or later. The realm of light is safe, but for how long no one really knows. It can only be said that the darkness is the last thing to be taken care of. I've sent a Gummi Ship in advance to arrive on the island, it should take at least two days. _

_I'm asking you to go ahead of me and try and restore some of the other worlds that haven't been cleansed of the darkness. It shouldn't be too much, just a couple of worlds in this galaxy, but that shouldn't be a problem for the three of you. _

_Also I've been informed that somewhere in this world, somebody can provide some details on the past of the Keyblade. You will treat her with respect, as well as her brethren, and sister. _

_In addition if you hear about the 'Chasers' please notify me immediately and whatever you do take caution if you should face on of them. If you can't reach me tell the person I mentioned of earlier. By then I'm sure you'll have met her.. _

_Please take care. _

_Signed by, _

_King Mickey_

"Another mission…" the expression on Sora's face was one with pure happiness. "And some clues as to the Keyblade… But where are we going to find this person?" he didn't think to long about it.

Kairi held an expression of worry, she didn't really want to believe that they were going to have to fight again. They've only had a couple of months rest, but when you're a Keybearer what could you expect? Kairi looked at the letter that Sora held within his grasp. The moment of peace seemed to shatter right before her eyes.

Riku looked at the piece of parchment with some wonder and disbelief. He had just gotten use to the whole routine, but he never dreamed of being asked again to help. Riku thought that Sora would be the only one to go. Then he remembered his life on the island, the only person he could think of was Selma. His little personal counselor, she had helped him for a couple of weeks, but they had a bond that couldn't be broken. _'What about Mom?'_ he thought.

Sora thought for a moment and his mother popped into his mind._ 'What do I say to her? What is she going to say?'_ he thought. What would he say to his family? The brunette's mother was in a state of depression for the first couple of months when he left. He couldn't really end up breaking his mother's heart like that. His father though believed in his son's ability, but he still worried, whether he showed it or not.

For Kairi her adopted family, they would react the same way anyone of their family's would act. They understood the situation, but they also took into grave consideration the risk of losing her. They didn't want anything bad happening to her, but they believed that she could take care of herself.

It was on that day the each of them went their own separate way, they walked the road they had to take in order to go home. The ocean breeze, and the warm sun comforted them. They each felt the warmth from the sun creep over from their backs, while the ocean breeze brushed past them leading the way.

Kairi was the first one to arrive home, and there her explanation was the first to be heard.

The young princess of heart walked up the steps of her white painted home. She found her mother and father in the kitchen as she tip-toed down the hall so as not to make so much noise.

Her parents heard the door from the house close slowly, as it had a bad case of creaking. They both knew she was home.

"Mom, Dad…" Kairi's body was shaking with the embarrassment and nervousness of the whole thing.

Her mother and father watched their little girl take a hold of her feelings. Her voice was becoming less and less shaky.

"I…I have something to tell you," she confessed, sitting next to both of her parents. They each listened, "I received a letter from King Mickey," she saw the face of her mother, "and in two days I'm… I'm going to leave…" she said gripping the fabric by her legs. She could hear her mother start to sob, and Kairi's eyes were starting to get hot. "I… I'll be all right, I promise…" she choked and the tears began to fall.

Kairi's mother took off the necklace she wore and placed it on her daughter. It was a religious artifact, and her mother believed that it would guide her on her journey. Kairi's father held on tight to her and told her how much he loved her.

Sora's path came to an end as he was already inside the living room of his own home. He asked his mother and father to sit down as he stood up.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" his mother dared to ask, tears were forming around her eyes. She was afraid of the response.

Sora nodded as he stared at the beige carpet, he felt the tears start to slide down his cheeks and his face was getting red from embarrassment. He walked towards his mother and just hugged her.

"I'm leaving in two days, but I won't go alone, Kairi, and Riku are going too." He said trying to fight back the tears.

Sora's father looked away, his emotions were ones of sadness, but he couldn't get them out. At that small moment though he got his son and held him tight.

"You take good care of Kairi, you hear?" he said to Sora.

"Yeah, I will…" he said whispering.

Riku had two paths to take, and he chose his mother first. He was in her room speaking in a low voice. The first thing one could hear were the sobs of a depressed mother, she clung to her little boy as if he was melting away.

"Mom, please don't cry…" he said holding his mother tight.

"How can I? I just…" she sobbed for a moment. "I just found out my little boy is leaving me again… How can I stop crying?!" she said letting the tears slide down. Her makeup was smearing, but she didn't care.

"I don't want to go either but…"

"Then why are you going?" she asked.

"It's my job… My duty to the King." He said looking down, his eyes were feeling warm. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Riku." She said in a very tender voice as she held her son for one last time. "I suppose you're going to tell Selma?"

"I… I don't know how to tell her…" he said feeling afraid now. "I'm afraid of what she'll say…"

"If she's as good a friend as you describe her, then I'm sure she won't be mad. But she'll be a bit worried about you." His mother said wiping her tears away now. "Are you going to tell her here?"

"I think it'd be best if I go over to her house…" Riku said feeling something vibrate in his pant pocket. The words 'SoRa' flashed on the screen. "Sorry buddy…" he said clicking on him.

He dialed Selma's home number, and he felt a bit nervous. Riku's mother had left him alone so that they could talk for a while. For a moment he thought that no one was going to answer the phone…

**_At _****_Selma_****_'s house…_**

"I got it!" she was wearing a navy colored shirt with some long black pants, and a black hooded sweatshirt. The teen grabbed the phone and flopped to the couch. "Hello?" she answered.

**_'_**Is Selma there?**_'_** a familiar voice asked.

"This is her… Riku?" she asked, the voice sounded a bit different. "Riku, are you sick or something?"

**_'_**No, no… Listen I have something to tell you, but I want to tell it to you in person.**_'_** He said.

"Hold on, have you been crying?" she asked noting the change in his voice.

**_'_**Just a little…**_'_** he admitted to her. **_'_**But forget about it, just meet me outside.**_'_**

"Why…?" her voice turned into a tone of concern.

**_'_**Please… Just wait for me outside, Selma.**_'_**

"All right, I will Riku, talk to you later." She said saying her goodbye and hanging up the phone.

She told her older sister and brother that she was going outside. They in return didn't ask why, but told her to be careful. Selma agreed and then noticed that the black notebook she was guarding was plainly seen on the little night stand out in the open.

"You thought you could hide that from us?" Monica called out from the living room.

"We believe in what he says, so don't worry. But don't hide things like that from us, we're family." She heard Yomigami voice.

"I know that'd you'd all understand, but what if strangers got into our house…" Selma explained.

"They couldn't even get past the front door, heck one of us would be there at a moments notice. But anyway, listen go… You're friend is waiting for you." Yuki said. "I had to eavesdrop, Monica made me…" he said laughing.

Selma nodded to her older siblings and then opened the door. She waited in the dark watching the people move around, finding their way home. The street lights suddenly turned on, and then the little moths started to gather by one street light. She watched the street for a sign of her silver haired friend. Her dog was sound asleep inside, and they wouldn't be disturbed for the remainder of the time.

In the distance her heart flipped as she saw her friend walking down her side of the street. He was wearing black clothing, she noted that he was wearing something around his neck too, but she couldn't make out what was on the pendant. He waited by the steps, and she in turn walked down the steps of her home and greeted her friend.

"Riku." She said in a soft tone.

" Selma, listen I don't have much time but…" Selma had placed a finger over her lips to tell Riku to be silent for a moment.

"Would it be better if you sat down?" she asked looking at him for a moment.

"Yeah… No wait, better yet let's go to the park." He said.

"Okay." She said nodding her head.

The two of them walked side by side to the park, and the night air was beginning to get the better of the two of them. Riku didn't expect for it to get so cold, so early, but considering they went to place with no buildings the air was moving about freely.

Selma picked out a place that was right underneath the tree Kairi and Sora were at. The two of them just sat there. Selma could tell that Riku was nervous about something. She didn't pressure him into saying it, but waited for when he was ready to speak. For a couple of minutes there was silence, and the girl could tell the teen was shaking a bit, either from the cold or of nervousness.

"Here…" she offered her friend her little electronic device. In her palm was a small blue mp3 player. Riku looked at it, he was confused by her action. "Play a song, it'll ease you up a bit."

He took her little blue device and searched through the songs she had on there. One of the songs was something familiar. He had heard her sing this song a couple of days ago by one of her favorite bands, _FAKE?_ It was titled Snow it was a bit more on the mellow side for his taste, but that was the only song he could remember the words to.

Selma had the other ear piece and listened to his selection. She laughed for a moment, but then cleared her throat.

"You drilled that song into my head." Riku said messing up Selma's hair.

"I didn't know I had that impact." She said sticking her tongue out, she was joking or course.

_She makes me want to stay _

_I've never felt this way _

_Love is here all around me _

_I'd rather feel her pain _

_Than ever see her go away _

They sat next to each other looking out into the sky, it was being blanketed by the stars of the night sky. Each twinkling as it came to life in the darkened sky. Riku was starting to relax for a moment, but when he thought of what he was going to say he panicked again.

" Selma…" Riku started. "No matter what happens we're always going to be best friends, right?"

"Of course, you're my buddy." She said looking at his turquoise eyes. "Now… what's the matter?" she asked in her patient tone.

Riku was still trying to figure out how he was going to say it, and he had two days to tell her. But on the last day he wanted to spend the whole day with her. He figured that telling her goodbye today would give them time to hang out more on the second day.

_I could never see, I could never know _

_The place she's taken me, I could never own _

_I'm choking everyday, drowning slowly with _

_Everything that is inside of her life _

"I'm going to be leaving…" he finally said. He looked into her eyes. "I'm getting picked up in two days."

"It's funny… But for some reason I thought it'd happen." She said looking down at the single blade of grass. "When I read what you wrote in the notebook I knew that something like that would one day happen to you." She said trying to smile. "Remember when you said not to be depressed?"

Riku looked at the expression on her face, he didn't know whether to hold her, or let her continue to talk. As a friend he let the teen continue her talk. She breathed in, and gripped on the sleeve of her sweatshirt.

"You did figure me out that day, and I was sort of surprised, but I didn't even think of that for about 3 years… It's funny, but I mean I'm still feeling like that…" she said pulling her knees up and holding them tight.

Riku placed a hand on her head and stroked her hair back, feeling the softness of it. She cracked a smile and placed her hand on top of his where it rested on her head.

"But, so you're leaving…" she said the tone in her voice was still soft, but it held some sadness.

"Yeah… I am, with Sora and Kairi," he said holding her hand and putting near his lap.

_It's glowing around me right now, and I feel it... _

_And I can't even breathe, can't even see when I'm inside her _

"I came here to say goodbye." He said hugging her tightly. Riku took in the smell of Herbal Essence that was forever to cling to his memory. The ear piece came off now. "I want to say thank you, for everything." Riku said closing his eyes feeling his own heartbeat thump in his chest.

Selma held on tight to him and sighed, if she spoke right now she felt her voice was going to crack, or that she might just start to cry at that point. The music was still playing in the background, a tune for their emotions right now as the ear piece fell to the cold grass.

Riku just held on for a bit longer trying to figure out his next move. He wanted to plan the last day for the two of them, with no distraction, just two good friends on their last hang out.

"I don't really want you to leave…" she whispered in his ear, still trying not to let him go.

"I don't want to go either, Selma." He said in a low voice. "But you know why I have to."

"I know why, but I mean it's only human to be selfish."

"I'm going to miss our talks." He said laughing under his breath.

_But I realize it... _

_I kinda feel that I'm breaking in my room _

_On a ground that I can't feel _

They finally let go of each other and sighed. Riku sat closer to her, but he felt some stress come up on him giving him a headache. Selma offered her shoulder for a good resting place and he didn't refuse it.

"It's not good getting worked up about it." She said pinching his cheek for a moment.

"Let's plan something the day after tomorrow, just the two of us, no distractions."

"All right, that's a good way to relax, before you leave."

"Really early in the morning, bring something warm." He said kissing her on the cheek.

_Dead flowers come alive when _

_I inhale every word she gives to me _

_One touch of her skin and _

_I heal without medication in me _

She scrunched up her face when she felt his lips touch her cheek. The teenage girl stuck out her tongue and shook her head. Her brown eyes looked at the turquoise ones and just smiled, the two of them smiled at one another.

"So then something warm… where are we going, buddy?" she said.

"A surprise, I can't tell you." He said waving a finger at her.

"So… How did your mom take it?" she asked concerned about the woman.

"We cried about it for a while," he would only say it to her. "so that's why I sounded a bit weird."

"You gonna cry when it's your last day?" she asked punching him in the arm.

"I might…" he said sneering, "but you're gonna have to stay through the whole day if you want to see me cry."

"I think I'll pass, seeing a guy cry is worse than anything I've seen." She said, saying serious, but then she changed. "Of course it's nice to see a guy get in touch with his emotions. Crying doesn't show a sign of weakness; remember that, it means you're strong because you have the guts to cry."

"I'll keep that in mind…" he said closing his eyes, he was resting his head on her shoulder. "I almost forgot…" he shifted himself for a moment and took off the necklace he wore.

It was a small friendship pendant that was crafted in half. It was a heart painted in black with one side holding yellow writing and the other side in red writing. It read 'to the grave best…' and the other side '…friend till the end'. Riku gave her the side with the final part that was written in red.

_It's glowing around me right now, and I feel it... _

_And I can't even breathe, can't even see when I'm inside her _

_It calls me, it burns me sometimes, when I'm near _

_And I can't even talk, can't even walk when I'm beside her _

_But I realize it _

_And it's warm like snow... _

_Oh baby, you separate me _

_From the side that pulls me into pain _

_I can't explain it, can't contain it _

_I'm overloading with all the love that you've designed _

Selma carefully placed it over her head and put it on. She smiled and swore to cherish it till the ends of the earth. She hugged him for a moment and told him again how lucky she was to have a friend like him.

For Riku those words were more than enough for him, yet for sometime now he felt that he wanted something more, but for now he wouldn't dare let this ruin the moment him and his best buddy were having. For right now Riku didn't give in to the emotion he was feeling other than happiness.

He would wait till the last day to find out what he was trying to make sense out of…

_It's glowing around me right now, and I feel it... _

_And I can't even breathe, can't even see when I'm inside her _

_It calls me and burns me sometimes, when I'm near _

_And I can't even talk, can't even walk when I'm beside her _

_It's glowing around me right now, and I feel it _

_And I can't even breathe, can't even see when I'm inside her _

_It calls me and burns me sometimes, 'cause I'm weird _

_I can't even talk, can't even walk when I'm beside her _

_...And it's warm like snow _


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter FOUR**:** Plan of Action **

Selma was back in her house where it was nice and warm, and she just sighed. Her big brother Yomigami though wasn't going to let her off the hook just yet. He wanted to ask her a couple of things. This was mainly Tachigami's, a.k.a Monica's part, but tonight Yuki would be the nosy girl, in this case it was a nosy guy.

Yomigami heard the door close and sat up from the couch he was napping on. By the hall way the time was marked as 10:55. It was past the curfew hour that the islands went by, he was amazed that neither her nor Riku were caught by the authority figures.

"Someone's home late…" he said hearing Selma's footsteps by the hallway. He was fiddling with a small locket that he had found on the couch.

"I know, Yuki…" she said calling her brother by his nickname. "I'm sorry… It won't happen again, I promise…" her brother told her to come into the living room.

"Where's everyone else?" she asked looking at her brother for a moment. She sat down next to him on the couch. "Are they asleep?"

"Yeah… They went to sleep just after Mom left…" he said looking down at the locket for a moment. He opened it and there on one side of the opening was a picture of Yomigami and their mother. "Memories are a very powerful thing, aren't they, Amaterasu?" he said looking at his little sister.

"I…" Selma sighed and looked down at her feet. She hadn't heard that name in so long, it was very foreign to her ears, so distant like a far off memory. "Please, don't call me that again, Brother…"

"You can't change who you are, ya know? Mom called you that for a reason, and yet it's funny you bring her to life with the memories from your heart… Her image is there everyday, she feels real to the touch… But you know that it doesn't last that long… You haven't told Riku, have you?" he said in a very calming voice.

"No, and I don't want to, not yet I don't think I'm ready… Besides any one of our memories could bring Mom back, I mean it's nice, living like a family again…" she said trying hard to smile.

"Let's drop this subject for now…" he said placing a hand on his sister's head. "What were you doing anyway…? You were out pretty late, and with a guy no doubt…"

She showed her the necklace around her neck, and he laughed. Selma frowned for a moment, but she laughed anyway. She thought back to what had happened a while ago and she was a bit upset that her friend was leaving, to go and save the world.

"He's leaving the day after tomorrow, Brother…"

"Did he tell you why?"

She shook her head and opened her mouth to speak, "But the notebook has a good justification as to why he is."

Her brother nodded in agreement, he like his sister believed the words that Riku had written down. This was his side of the story that Sora had made for himself in the other worlds. Yomigami scratched his head for a moment and then just scrunched up his face for a moment.

"He wants to spend time together on the last day." She said messing with the necklace.

"He's asking you out on a date, you dumb head…" he said slapping his forehead lightly.

Selma just made a face, it was one of two things, confusion, or embarrassment for accepting the invitation. Her head was trying to figure out exactly what Riku was trying to say when he used those words. She didn't have a good explanation for it, and she ended up taking her brother's advice.

"A date?!" she yelled out, almost making her big brother go deaf.

"If I remember correctly this had happened a long time ago too…" he said smirking.

"Hey!" she yelled. "You said you wouldn't bring up that story…" she started to whine covering her ears as her brother started to speak. She muffled out the sound by thinking of something else.

"…And then he left… And you never told him goodbye that day." He finally finished the story.

Names, dates, or places, weren't given out because Selma had locked away that incident a long time ago in her memories. It was one she didn't really like all that well because that was the first time she ever really liked anybody. Selma shook her head and pouted at her big brother.

"You liked that's guy's sister, and she dumped you…" she said.

"Anyway back to Riku…" he said smacking his little sister upside the head. "He's got a crush on you…"

"Ouch…" she grumbled for a moment. "I don't think he does…"

"Well you're thinking wrong little sister." He said shaking his head. "Besides if Tachigami was here right now she'd do anything in a heartbeat to get him away from you…"

"Not this again…" she shook her head. "Listen let's just drop this whole conversation, it's getting nowhere… All right?" Selma stood up and kissed her brother on the cheek. "Good night, Yomigami."

"Night, night, Amaterasu…" he whispered, and looked back at the locket with the picture in it. "I hope you're watching over us, Mom…" he said softly under his breath.

That night the sky was full of stars, but in the distance if you looked closely enough, you could see some stars fade out, as the darkness was starting to come and take the worlds in its grasp. People here on the island had no clue as to what was going to happen, and it seemed that the events would start again just like they did two years ago on that day of the storm.

Riku was sitting at the edge of his bed, staring the black checkered sheet and he was thinking back to what had happened about an hour ago. He took out this little device that was in his pocket, it was his friend's mp3 player. As a relaxing exercise, she told him to keep it until he had to leave. He had gone through 13 songs already, but he wasn't sleepy at all.

"We're letting go of something we've never had…" Riku found himself singing slightly, he laughed at himself. "I don't have anything planned for tomorrow… I think I'll spend that time with Mom…" he placed the little mp3 device on his night stand and got ready to go to sleep. "How we long for heaven…" he yawned as he mimicked the vocals from the song.

And with that he knocked out like a light. Bright and early the sun greeted the new day, which meant to three people that they had to start packing for the next day. It was hard for all of them, but they knew they had to do, it was their responsibility as keepers of the peace.

Somewhere in the distance of Riku's living room a band by the name of 'Secondhand Serenade' was playing in the distance. His mom did like the sentimental lyrics within the song the one man band was playing.

"That's in her mp3 player?" his mother asked him.

"Yeah, I'm guessing she's emo." He said sitting up straight on the couch.

"You don't know that for sure, besides do you think people really need labels?"

He looked at his mother for a moment and smiled. In response he shook his head and believed that people were people, and that putting labels on them was just another way to distance themselves.

"Do you have anything planned for your little date tomorrow?" his mother asked him.

"..Uh…" he scratched his cheek. "I have _something_…" he said, not really sure what that something was.

"Well whatever that _something_ is, I'm sure the two of you will have fun." His mother said smiling at her little boy.

It was hard to believe it, but he hardly could be called a 'little boy' now, he was a seventeen year old now. Riku sighed for a moment and pushed back some of the strands falling over his face. He was thinking of what to do for tomorrow but he couldn't get anything in his head, in fact he just wanted to spend that last day with Selma, and he didn't really care about what they did so long as they had fun.

"I think we're just going to hang around the island…" Riku said finally speaking up, "You know the one where we use to play on?"

His mother nodded in satisfaction and added her own little piece to the idea:

"You should probably make that your last stop."

"Hm," he thought about it for a moment, and he felt his stomach churn again like it did the night before. "Wait why?"

"You'll get the idea soon enough," she said patting her son on the back. He in turn looked at her with confused eyes trying to scan her eyes for an answer or an idea as to what she was trying to say.

"But what if I don't?" he asked hoping that he'd get the answer.

Riku's mother shook her head and gave a big smile. '_Mom, you're really brave, I hope you know that,_' he thought watching his mother laugh a bit. It was going to be really hard to leave her, and the new friend he made.

Another song came out, carrying out it's melody into the area of the living room. The screen, from the little blue mp3 playing device, read that it came from an album titled _Wolf's Rain_. It was in another language of course, Selma had a strange liking for other world music. The title of it was called _Coracoa Selvagem_, which meant in English 'Wild Heart.'

"It's in Portuguese," his mother said to him. "I took that as a foreign language, but that was _years_ ago."

"So you have no idea what it's saying?" he asked her blinking a bit. She shook her head and that was enough for him.

It was already late into the afternoon and Riku didn't really do anything, other than not answer his calls. Surprisingly neither Sora nor Kairi called him in almost the whole day, which was a record in Riku's book.

The sun was starting to cast long shadows as the afternoon was starting to set, signaling another day passing by. Since the three of them were leaving this day in general was starting to go by pretty fast.

Riku laid on his bed watching the sun set for a minute, in his hand he held the little mp3 device and closed his eyes for a moment. The song from before, the one titled _Snow_, played in his head for a moment. '_Tomorrow's the last day,_' he thought to himself taking in a mouthful of air, he exhaled slowly and frowned for a moment. '_A week in advance would've been nice, but that's not how it works,_' he could imagine Selma saying something along the lines of that, and he chuckled a bit to himself.

He looked up at that same familiar ceiling that was over his head, and in a day and something hours that wasn't going to be there. '_I know when I go out tomorrow I won't come back home to this,_' he felt a bit upset about leaving the life he knew for only a couple of months now.

**Final Day… **

"Come on, Sora!" Kairi yelled at him as he was lagging behind. He said something about the items being too heavy. "Come on, put some muscle into it!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Sora said straining under the weight of the items. "In case you haven't noticed I'm not that-" there was a heavy thud and Kairi rushed over to the spiky brunette's side.

"Are you okay?" she asked, the look of concern sketched on her face. Kairi pulled him up and sighed in relief noticing that he wasn't bruised nor had any cuts on him.

"Like I was saying before…" Sora sighed heavily and put his arms up in the air, "I'm not _that_ muscular…"

"Sorry," she said laughing nervously looking down at the ground for a moment. The boxes were dented a bit, but it wasn't that bad. A couple of items had fallen out of one box and she went over to pick the items up. "You brought snacks?"

"Well there aren't any in the gummi ship." He pointed out putting his hands on the back of his head.

"Do the words 'wrap drive' mean anything?" she asked tossing him a bag of potato chips.

He caught it and laughed nervously and innocently said he had forgotten about that. It was true he did forget about that, but with the worlds and their barriers the paths would be lost again, and they'd have to travel like they did in their first adventure.

"Where are we meeting up again?" Sora asked helping Kairi pick up the items from the ground.

"By the edge of this island where you can see the other island we use to play on as kids."

"Does Riku know?" the male teenager asked.

"I tried to call him on his cell but he won't pick up, and his mom said he wasn't home."

"What the heck is he doing out so early in the morning?" Sora asked finally being able to carry the box. Kairi shrugged for a moment and carried the lighter box as the two of them walked down the sidewalk.

"I'll take a guess…" Kairi said nudging her head forward. Sora's blue eyes followed as he spotted two familiar people. It was Riku and Selma, the two of them were walking down the same sidewalk as Sora and Kairi. "That's should be enough to guess…" she said smiling. "But what he's doing taking her out so early in the morning?"

"Beats me…" Sora said trying to think of something. He watched the two of them mess around with the other's hair. "He likes her a lot, doesn't he?"

"So you noticed it too?" she asked looking at Sora for a moment.

"It's kind of hard not to notice it…" Sora said almost tripping over his own feet.

"Be careful…" Kairi said starting to worry a bit about his well being.

Sora gained control of his balance and laughed it off. The two of them started to follow slowly behind to other two individuals. He thought of a plan and laughed triumphantly as Kairi gave him a confused stare for a second or two.

"Come on don't look at me like that, I know you wanna see what they're going to be up to."

"Not really…"

"But you were thinking it…" Sora said hoping that his little plan would work.

"Well now I am…" Kairi said sighing in defeat.

"Yes!" Sora said feeling like he won something big. "So let's drop off these boxes by the pier and then we'll go and spy on them."


	5. Can I Tell You?

**A/N: Thanks to all my readers! You guys, now on with chapter 5.**

**Chapter Five: Can I Tell You? **

Riku looked at the girl for a moment and played a small smile on his lips when her gaze didn't catch up with his. The girl was in rapture, this here being the sense of joy, that she was eating a sea-salt ice-cream popsicle stick so early in the morning, strange how someone could find it that enjoyable to be eating ice-cream so early in the morning. He in turn ate the ice-cream he bought for himself and savored the taste that melted into his mouth.

"Thanks, Riku," she said quietly looking at him for a moment.

"No problem," he said patting her on the head. He asked her to give him her hand and she did without question. Riku pulled something out of his jean pocket; it was the little blue mp3 device. He handed it to her, letting his hand linger on hers for a second longer.

"Did you like the songs?" she asked looking at him.

"I liked the Black Mages a lot," he said remembering a tune from her mp3 device. She said that they were her favorite. "I liked Jenova," he told her smiling slightly as he took a bite out of the ice cream.

"Jenova was pretty good," she said smiling slightly humming the tune as she moved side to side. "Those Who Fight Further, and Matoya's Cave were my favorite."

Riku smiled for a bit, watching the area around him. The two of them were sitting outside the ice cream parlor, it opened around 8 in the morning considering that the temperature would get around the 80 mark, especially during the summer.

He decided to wear a black and white version of the clothing he wore two years ago, his other clothes didn't fit him, and so he had gone to buy some new ones. Selma was wearing a black t-shirt with some sort of tribal marking on it, it was fabricated in white material, and she also wore some black jeans and white tennis shoes with black skulls on them.

"Hey come on," Riku said holding a bare Popsicle stick, "let's go we have more things to do." He out stretched his hand and waited for her to take hold of it.

Selma looked at the wristband for a moment it had an emblem, it looked to be custom made. It was a shape that looked oddly familiar in her eyes. It brought back a feeling of nostalgia, she let a smile slip out as that little emblem brought a warm fuzzy memory into her heart, but she didn't know why. '_It's been decades since anyone has seen that,_' she thought to herself, unknown to her that Riku was trying to get her attention.

" Selma…" she finally snapped out of her little trance and blinked for a while looking up at Riku. "Come on, we have more stuff to do," he said in a gentle tone.

"Ri…Right!" she said trying to push the embarrassment off of her. She took hold of his hand and he led the way onto their next destination.

Unbeknownst to the two of them Sora and Kairi were watching them from a safe distance. Riku's two good friends enjoyed seeing him this happy, but at the same time when they thought about it, it was also depressing. Out of all the days he finally found happiness he had to leave to do what it was that Keyblade wielders did.

Riku led her down the sidewalk, and Sora and Kairi were right behind them. Selma with her free hand placed her little mp3 device into her pocket and allowed Riku to led the way. '_I feel like a little kid,_' she thought walking behind him. '_But he's enjoying himself, so that's good._'

"Where are we going now?" she asked looking at the back of Riku's head. "Hey come on, don't tell me it's a secret."

"I can't really say…" he told her looking at her for a moment. "But I think you'll like it."

"I'm sure whatever it is I'll like it anyway." She told him honestly as she patted his hand with her free hand.

Riku felt a small blush creep up on him and he turned away from her, clearing his throat. The two of them were waiting for the cross light to turn green, because no matter where you lived green meant 'go.' He still held onto her hand and at some points he had to pull her close to him when the streets would get crowded as the two of them went deeper into the area. Sora and Kairi struggled to keep up with them, and Sora had to follow Riku's tactic, Sora didn't want to lose Kairi in the sea of people.

"Hey hold on," Kairi said wrapping both of her arms around Sora's left arm. "Where the heck is he leading her?"

"Beats me…" Sora said looking straight ahead. "I think he's taking her to the little shopping area, the one in Anatore."

"Anatore, hey remember when you and Riku said you'd take me there?"

Sora laughed slightly, out of embarrassment and out of nervousness. He finally remembered that day. He told her that it was lucky her day then, since it did happen to be true that they were going to the shopping center in the city of Anatore.

"Anatore…" Riku said answering Selma's question. "You said you wanted to go, so that's where we're going."

"You were actually paying attention when I said that?" she said stopping him as she squeezed his hand.

"I listen to what you have to say…" he said sounding a bit wounded. Riku looked back at the dark eyed girl with his turquoise eyes. She was able to mend him without words all it took was a big smile to get him moving again. "So then, Selma where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere you decide to go." She said laughing a bit as they walked past the crowd of people. "Besides you're the one leading the way." She said holding hold his hand in her grasp.

Riku laughed nervously completely forgetting that he was still holding her hand. He let go of her head as they finally reached the outside door of the shopping center. Selma stated that she didn't have any money with her at the moment.

"Don't worry, I'll buy you something, as a little keepsake." He said looking back at her.

'_That's very gentleman like of him. Though it's not right for him to buy me anything he doesn't have to, I mean I haven't given him anything, or have I?_' she thought about it for a moment and sighed, she managed to smile.

Riku held the door open for her and she thanked him, he loved watching the way she would act, it was almost funny, but in a cute way, if that way could even be accomplished. If it could, Selma had it down to perfectly, it made him feel like he was at peace whenever she thanked him or smiled at him.

He noticed right there that the blue streaks in her were gone they had faded away with time. He never noticed the little things, until now that was.

"Hey your streaks are gone." He pointed out following after her.

"They fade with time of course," she said bumping into him. The place was crowded; after all it was the weekend. "Hey you know what I've noticed, the weekend is a time for couples…" she started to ramble on a bit about the subject.

"Yeah I guess they are," he said tapping her shoulder to get her attention. "So then, since I'm leading the way," she turned to face him, "I'm guessing we should probably go to Little Tokyo. Does that sound all right with you?"

"Yeah!" she said nodding her head happily. A couple of people passed and Selma leaned against Riku so that they wouldn't bump into them. Riku blushed slightly looking away for a moment. "Little Tokyo it is!" she said wrapping her arm around his waist.

"You act like such a little kid." He said messing up her hair slightly. She in turn did the same to him, the two of them laughing for a moment. He placed his arm over her shoulder and expressed amusement for a second or two, "I forgot how short you are…"

**On the Second Floor **

Above on the second floor Kairi and Sora were gasping for air as they had to make a mad dash so that the other two wouldn't see them.

"Do you still want to spy on them?" Kairi asked closing her eyes for a moment.

"How about…" Sora thought about it for a moment. "How about we just walk around, you know relax, I know for a fact Riku does have his cell phone, so…" he played a devilish grin.

**Little ****Tokyo**

"I'm not coming out…" Selma said standing a mere inch away from the curtain. "I change my mind I don't like how it looks on me…" she had finally picked something out.

Riku sat in the waiting room flashing a nervous smile to the lady who was waiting for the girl to finish up in there.

"Is she your girlfriend young man?" the woman in her mid forties asked.

"Ah, no we're close friends," Riku said looking up at the lady for a moment.

"Yeah, it starts out that way," the woman said reminiscing about her days when she was young.

Riku pleaded with his friend to get out of the dressing area so that others could use it. The owner of the store was patient, but still he prayed that, that one girl would come out some time soon. Selma sighed slightly and shook her head; the good thing was that no one could see her due to the curtain in the way.

_"Amaterasu let's go!" _

_"Wait hold on Xe-" she paused for a moment not wanting to say his name. _

_"The ceremony's going to start. King Ansem said I can't be late!" he took a hold of her hand and led her down the corridors. "Besides you said you were going to wear that dress, and you look nice in it too, and I REALLY don't think you want to keep King Ansem waiting." He said smiling at her. That day he smiled at her, it was the first time she had blushed in plain sight. _

"I like how it looks on you," the woman in her mid forties brought Selma back into reality. Selma blinked and gave a big smile to the woman, and bowed at her in gratitude. The woman walked past her and it was her turn to try on the clothing she wanted to buy. Riku stole a glance at his close friend and he felt a blush creep up on him that was when he looked away from her.

"Does it look okay?" Selma asked modeling the dress shyly. She wasn't a big fan of Asian inspired dresses, although she did think that they looked very attractive.

"Um," his turquoise eyes scanned the dress from head to toe. It was rather elegant looking in his eyes. It had a mixture of blue, white, and gold designs on it, with a thick black lace around the torso to keep it all together. The sleeves were a bit long on her, but they both didn't care, the length went to her ankles with a slit down the thigh area on each side. Riku pulled out his phone from his back pocket and switched the cellular device to act as a camera. "Cheese!" he said.

"Cheese!" she said giving a big smile. The flash of light from the little phone came out and Riku's phone captured Selma in a stylish looking kimono. "How does it look?" she asked leaning over him, watching the screen on the phone.

"See for yourself…" he said handing the phone to her.

**Outside of the store **

"Kairi!" Sora whispered to her grabbing her arm. The blue eyed brunette boy pointed inside the shop. "It's Selma! Look at that!"

Kairi turned around and smiled. She commented on how that type of dress appealed a lot to the girl's figure. And from what she could tell it looked like Riku was also having a good time, just being around her.

Sora pulled out his own phone and zoomed in, he wasn't able to get a good resolution from the picture, but he knew who it was anyway. He pressed the flash button and there in still life, captured a picture of Selma standing next to Riku smiling slightly.

"They look like they're having a good time," Kairi said. "I really wish we didn't have to leave though, it makes me sad just thinking about it."

"Think of how Riku must feel," Sora said, he knew quite well how his bosom friend was feeling. "I'm sure of it though, well meet up with her someday, right?"

The question was directed to Kairi and she nodded, watching the two of them, the dark haired girl and the boy with silver hair, it was a bitter-sweet. The moment was cut short due to the fact that those two were already purchasing something. Sora and Kairi left entrance of the store rather quickly.

**The cash register **

"Wait Riku, I mean $35.60, that's too much!"

There was no way around to stopping him. He had promised her that he was indeed going to buy her something and that he didn't care how much he paid so long at he did indeed get her something. She protested once again, and this time he did listen.

"I love the dress, but it's too much for me…" she said getting out of the line. She let other people pass by her so that they could pay. "I love to draw…" she said pointing out a small set of pens and pencils by the register. "I want that instead."

"What a shame, you would've looked so cute in that kimono," he said joking around with her of course, but then again fifty percent of the joke is always true.

"Ha…" she forced herself to laugh as she brought the pen and pencil kit to him. "So, give me the kimono and I'll go put it back, and you can pay for that."

Riku watched her walk across the store with many Asian trinkets, and items, lamps, clothing, and even food. After a while he lost her in the crowd of people with the same colored hair. He missed watching the blue streaks, since they stood out from that of other people. The young teen went back in line to pay for the $20 item. As he approached the cash register she came back standing next to him, like a little kid impatiently waiting for their turn.

The cashier rung up the total and told the two of them to have a nice day. As Selma was the last person to leave from the register she heard the cashier say that Riku was 'pretty hot,' her cheeks blushed slightly and she shook her head laughing away the reaction on her face.

It was about 2 o'clock now, and the walk back to the beach from Anatore would be too much for both of them to handle. Kairi and Sora for the most part, unknown to the other two, were already back at the beach.

It was Riku's idea to take the bus to the beach. Selma still felt bad about the whole thing, he was paying an enormous amount, she added everything up in her head and the total came out to about $50. She sighed for a moment feeling even worse because of how much he was spending. '_I know it's out last day, but he doesn't have too… In a way **he** was like that too, funny they're both so alike,_' she thought sitting next to Riku on the bus.

There were so many things she wanted to tell him, '_But not like this, this isn't right, he's leaving and I don't want him to worry,_' she thought sighing for a moment or two.

Riku was lost in his own thoughts. He had never felt so, happy, ever, but the only times he did remember being happy was when he was with his friends. Selma was his friend, but it was completely different. Even after spending less than a month with her, well really almost a month, he felt as though he could accomplish something new each day. He loved the fact that when he could ramble she would listen so intently. Though the same question came back to haunt him, 'I wonder if that's just how she is?'

He wanted to hold her tightly like he did the two nights ago; he wanted to comfort her when she cried. He knew that when she did cry today, it was because of him. He didn't want her to cry because he was leaving. '_I'm just thinking selfishly,_' he thought to himself, as he so desperately wanted to stay by her side, to protect her.

Riku's turquoise eyes looked at her face, it was flawless to him. The way she smiled the way she talked sometimes. He realized that was what drew him to her, their first meeting she was shy. He closed his eyes and leaned against his seat thinking back to that day, she had made him feel more cheerful. '_She doesn't deserve me as a friend though…_' he opened his eyes slightly looking at the scenery from the moving vehicle.

The girl glanced at him for a moment and flashed him one of those very smiled that he enjoyed seeing. The more she thought about **him** and Riku, the more she began to see how similar the two were. '_His smile, his jokes, everything about Riku does remind me of **him**… But Riku's different he's so much more, Riku-ish,_' she said trying hard not to laugh out loud. She noticed the familiar scene, the beach was coming into view, from where the sun was positioned in the sky one could say it was about 3 o'clock now. She looked at the yellow chord that would signal the bus to stop. She was about to pull on it when she heard a familiar ding.

"Stop requested," the automated voice said from the speakers overhead.

"Riku, hey, come on," she said nudging him softly the boy had fallen asleep. "Our stop's right here." She said softly whispering into his ear. "Wakey, wakey, eggs and backey," a Chester cat smile was plastered onto her expression.

**On the other ****Island**

_"Give her a paopu fruit?" Riku asked again for the umpteenth time. _

_"Yeah, it's kind of sweet, don't you think?" Sora said reiterating what Kairi had told him a while ago. "It's obvious you really do like her." _

_"I don't know if she feels the same way though," Riku said scratching the back of his head. When it came to emotions that made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, Riku didn't rally major in stuff like that. It was even a miracle if Sora understood that feeling, the only one he could turn to was Kairi, but she said it was better and more rewarding if Riku found it on his own. "I should probably give it a try though…" _

_"That's the spi-" Kairi almost feel forward, straight down the pier. She had felt something creep up against her leg. She regained her balance and titled back before she dove forward. "As I was saying before, that's the spirit. I'm sure she feels the same way about you, I mean isn't obvious?" _

_It was like talking to a pair of rocks, the two of them just shook their head. _

_"Well it is…" she said whining a bit. _

"Riku, E-R-F to Riku, hello?" she said exaggerating the last word a bit. "Hey…" he finally blinked coming back to reality. "You dozed off on me there buddy. Are you okay?" he nodded a bit confused but never the less back once more into reality. "I was asking you if you knew at what time they were going to come and pick you up."

"Around…" the turquoise eyed teen started to speak, but then found the cause of the problem. "I don't know…" he said hearing her sigh sharply.

Riku called up Sora on his phone and waited to hear his voice pick up.

**Sora and Kairi **

Sora finally was able to get into the moment of things. He was just about to plant his first kiss on the girl he came to care for so much. Though just as he was mere inches away from her his cell phone rang out.

**Selma**** and Riku **

" Five o'clock," Riku said hanging up with Sora. "He sounded a bit depressed though when I called."

"Aw, I hope he wasn't in the middle of something important, like eating or something," she said thinking about if for a moment.

"You think about food 24/7." He said.

"What can I say, I love food!" she said happily twirling around for a moment, her plastic white bag moved along with her. Riku took a hold of her wrist, he held on to her gingerly for a second and pulled her carefully. She spun around for a moment, and she bumped into him. "Hey…" she looked up slightly at him.

"We got about an hour or so before I have to go back to the other island," he said sounding a bit dejected. She tried her best to cheer him up, but she felt as though she didn't have the mental stamina to do it.

"Hey, come on…" she said poking him slightly in the ribs. "It's not going to be that bad. We can send each other text message through our cell phones, you know that."

The two of them sat down by the shore of the beach taking in the beauty that Destiny Islands had to offer. The skies were starting to set, and it as around 4 o'clock now. The firmament was starting to display a color of pink orange, and light crimson dusky color, painting the water as well. It was peaceful just sitting there hearing the waves hit the shore, or hit the larger body of water in the distance.

"You're lucky," she told him; "You get to see the sun set in a lot of different worlds, don't you?" he turned to her slightly.

"I've… I've never really paid attention when I was in the other worlds," he said holding some remorse in his voice; he wanted to cheer her up a bit.

"Well then," she said punching his arm playfully, "Start paying attention, I want you to take pictures of the different sunsets in each world you visit, okay?"

"It's a promise then," he said holding out his little finger to her. "All right?"

"A promise," she said grasping his little finger with hers. "I had a lot of fun today."

Riku eyes brightened up a bit when he heard her say that. His heart was fluttering around when that sentence rolled of her tongue. She started to fidget around with the necklace he had given her not that long ago. At that moment a very faint smile was placed on her face. Selma's vision was starting to double as tears were starting to form. She tried her best to smile at him, but al she could do was let the tears fall, and her bottom lip started to tremble.

"You can cry…" he said to her as softly as he could. Riku looked down at the sand. '_She probably doesn't want me to look at her while she cries,_' he thought hearing her sob a bit. At that moment he felt a pair of hands gently touch both sides of his cheeks. They felt cold and he quickly cupped them with his own hands. She closed her eyes and gave him a big smile. '_I wish we met earlier, you're probably thinking the sam thing, aren't you?_' he removed one of his hands from hers and wiped away one of her tears with his thumb. "You know, I really would've loved to have bought you that dress…" he tried to get her to relax.

"It's…" she cleared her throat and placed her hands down to her lap, "It was too much for you to pay."

"It wouldn't have mattered to me," he said looking at the white plastic bag she had placed by her feet. "You've done so much for me, and I wanted to repay you with something."

"But…" she shook her head slightly. He noticed she had her eyes closed tightly. "It was a lot, and I mean…"

"Well technically…" he smiled at her, "You're worth more than that."

"Oh hey… did you know there's this survey you can take on the internet, and it tells you how much you're worth? Anyway, because I'm left handed I'm worth $5 million," she said trying to get him to laugh. "I'm sorry, here you were trying to make a point…" she paused as her eyes wandered to his facial expression. "Riku…?"

Riku felt his eyes get a bit warm, and his vision was starting to blur a bit, his own emotion of sadness finally caught up with him. He didn't want her to see him cry, but part of him wanted to have her comfort him. Selma wrapped her arms around him, placing her chin to rest on his head. She rocked him gently side to side, hearing him sob a bit, his body shaking as he began to break down a tad bit.

"Riku…" she whispered his name. "I'm glad I met you."

His turquoise orbs looked up slightly, feeling more tears slide down his face. He felt a little bit like a child in her arms and hugged her tighter. He could hear her heartbeat race as he rested his head on her chest. She finally let him go and the two of them cleared their throat forcing a smile out of the other person.

"Listen, Selma…" he started to twirl his thumbs around. Riku sat with his knees against his chest. "I…" he stammered a bit, but yet she still placed attentive eyes on him. "Come with me…" he finally mustered enough courage to say.

He took her hand in his and the two of them stood up. They walked down the shore and into a little shack. It was dark in there, so the two of them had to watch their step as they went up the stairs. Riku pushed the door open and watched the sunset touch the area they were on. The two of them walked down the wooden bridge and Riku ran up to the paopu tree. He plucked two out from the crooked tree and ran back showing her what he held in his hand.

"A paopu fruit…" she said touching the edge of one of the curious star shaped fruit.

The silver haired Keyblade wielder placed one of the star shaped fruits in her hand . She accepted the gift and smiled happily. The dark haired girl paused for a moment and offered to share her piece only if he shared his.

"This way," he said smiling to her, "we won't be that far apart. We'll always be connected."

"Friends in my heart…" she whispered to herself. The two of them bit into the star shaped, it was tangy, but the after taste was rather sweet. "It's sour…" she said making a face as the tangy flavor danced in her tongue.

**Sora and Kairi **

The two of them sat near the edge of the pier waiting for Riku and the gummi ship to arrive. It was Sora who had noticed that Riku's boat was gone, so it would be a nice surprise to greet the two of them after their little 'date' ended. Kairi pointed out a silhouette traversing over the water, it looked like a boat. The two of them waved happily to their friends. It was at that moment that something was glistening in the sky. Sora looked up at the dusk setting in the sky and noticed something red approaching. It was the gummi ship piloted none other than Donald and Goofy. Riku finally made it to the pier and looked up at the sky, pointing out the rocket that would take them away. Selma looked up and smiled, she felt a distance memory come back to her, though that feeling went away as the gummi ship started to hover over the beach.

"I'm going to miss you," Sora said helping Selma out of Riku's boat. "You've been a great friend to him, and to us too." He said giving her his trademark smile.

"I really hate saying goodbye…" the dark haired girl said blowing up her cheeks. Kairi hugged her with all her might and Selma felt as though her ribcage was going to collapse or something.

The ship landed on the sand of the island, and all four of them huddled by the red ship. It made a loud hissing sound as the engine was slowly starting to turn off. One side of the ship started to slowly come down, like a mechanical garage door. Selma watched the ship for a moment and looked back at her new friends.

At that moment a white duck with blue clothing walked down the hatch and onto the side. Selma titled her head slightly trying to figure out how the duck came to be, but she didn't get anywhere with her thoughts. This duck's name was Donald Duck, Sora had spoken about him once or twice around her. She remembered that he used magic, it stuck in her head as Sora use to poke fun at him. Then a tall figure came out making a _a-hyuck_ sound. Her mind went back to a distant memory, but she brought herself to reality before she became absorbed into her childhood past. Introductions were said and done hugs were given out to everyone, a warm fuzzy feeling and a lot of other things too, like nostalgia, and it was almost time for the three teenagers to leave.

"Ya know, you look pretty familiar…" Goofy said nodding slightly to the dark haired girl. "Ya sure we haven't met before?"

"Nope, Goofy," she said shaking her head. She pulled out her little mp3 device and checked the time on the little machine it read 5:25 p.m. "It's late you guys, I mean I really hate to spoil the fun but…" she heard the duck laugh nervously.

"Let's go guys," Donald said also bidding his goodbye to Selma. Goofy said his good bye as well. He still didn't shake off the fact that he had seen her somewhere else.

Kairi and Sora walked towards the ship, and they each looked back at Riku and Selma. The silver haired teen was trudging behind them slowly. A gentle voice called out his name and he looked back at her. Selma held on to his wrist and forced a smile on her face.

"Take this with you…" she said forcing the little mp3 device in his hand. "I want it back, so you have to take good care of it, okay?"

'_There are so many things I want to tell you…_' Riku thought for a moment pulling her into a hug. '_I'm not going to see you for who knows how long, I won't see you laugh or smile, get angry, or even see you cry,_' he sighed heavily onto to her hair, it smelled just like mandarins, papaya and paopu. '_I understand what it is I'm feeling, I…_'

"I…" Riku started to whisper softly to her.

"You have to go…" she said letting go of him. "Take care, please?"


	6. It's a Start

**A/N: I'll be chaing the POV's from time to time, so sorry for the confusion it may cause to some.**

**Chapter Six: It's a Start **

**R I K U **

I sighed for a moment staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling before my eyes. I had not been able to rest for two weeks, we just got back from a place called Atlantica, or something like that, I can't really remember the name. It was pretty cool though. Donald used his magic to transform us into mere people. Sora had a dolphin fin on his mere-man tail, and Kairi had one that was almost a splitting image of that girl Ariel's.

Ariel, she's the daughter to King Trident, and she married someone from above the surface, I think his name was Eric. Anyway they have a kid now, she's a cute kid, I think she's two years old or something like that. The Heartless made their way to the 'surface dwellers' and at the bottom of the sea. It was hard learning how to swim with meremaid's tail. Mines ended up looking like a skinner version of an orca. I was able to take a picture of the sunset on where the humans of that world lived. Did I mention that Ariel's a human now? Yeah, it's pretty strange. Sora clued me in what happened with that world since I never set foot, or rather fin, in that place.

Donald had octopus legs and Goofy was a turtle, it was pretty funny. I probably got a big work from that world because fighting underwater was pretty rough for me, and for Kairi too. Sora showed us the rope's though, and Kairi's fighting skills are developing, slowly, but hey it's a pretty big improvement. The only time I saw her fight was in the World that Never Was.

I remember looking out of the gummi ship, the day we left Destiny Islands. Even when I close my eyes I see my home, and I see **her** too. I turned over in my bed, hearing the springs creak as I shifted my weight on the divan. This room, I call it the Blue Room, I think that's its name anyway, it has a blue sheeted bed with a coffee table in the middle of the room, with a black rug, and a desk up against one of the blue walls. We had to stop in a place called ' Traverse Town' because we ran out of supplies after our little adventure in that world. At least there was an outlet in my room, so I can charge the mp3 player and my phone, I'd rather use the outlet then have Donald use his Thunder spell to charge if back up.

There was a light knock on my door, and told whoever it was on the other side that they could come in. I turned my head slightly and looked at whoever it was that entered. It was none other than my best friend, Sora. He said 'hello' and waved at me slightly, and I waved back.

"Anything new today?" he asked referring to something, I just didn't know what that something was.

"Wha?" I asked, blinking for a moment.

"Did she send you anything?" he asked, his blue eyes holding some sadness in them.

"Not yet, it's going to take a while before it can reach her." I said speaking in a rather low tone.

"Oh…" he said obviously thinking of something else to say. "We're going to be leaving soon, I just came by to tell you that, so…"

"Got it…" I said watching Sora say his little goodbye and closed the door of the Blue Room. "I wonder where we're going…" I got up from the bed and stretched for a moment. I put on my black sneakers, and grabbed the black hooded shirt from the chair on the coffee table. When I slid my shirt on I heard a strange sound coming from in the room. I looked around, looking under the bed, under the pillow, I came up to the desk and noticed it was my cell phone.

I flipped it open and smiled as I knew who it was from. It was a feeling that came from the bottom of my heart, and I could feel my breathing stop for that small moment in time. I held it in as I opened the text message from **her**.

'Hey what's up, Riku? I loved the sunset picture from that place, it was so beautiful! I've been using that kit you bought me, I know, when you come back I'll show you all the cool stuff I've drawn, I'm sure you'll like it. I've been checking up on your mom, like you asked me too, I haven't forgotten my promise, and neither should you. P.S. I miss u.'

" Selma…" it warmed my heart knowing that she kept her promise. I unhooked the charger from the phone, and did the same thing to the little mp3 player. Funny, we almost forgot those boxes Sora had laying around by the pier, if we did I wouldn't have had anyway to communicate with **her**, or keep the mp3 player charged.

I sent her back a text message. From the date on it, it would take at five days for it to get there.

_'_Hey Selma, I miss u 2… I'd love to see the drawings you've made so far, hey send me one on your phone. We've been missing you a lot over here, I feel bad for Kairi she's the only girl in the group. I'm glad you liked the sunset, I'm going to be leaving soon, so I have to go, ttyl._'_ I pressed the send button on the menu from the cell phone's screen and sighed.

"She sent you something, did she?" Kairi's voice was heard from my room. I turned around and saw her leaning against the doorframe with a little grin on her face. "I saw the look in your eyes when you sent it. It's kind of cute," she said laughing for a while. "Sora told me to tell you that we're leaving so…"

"Yeah I hear you…" I told her grabbing the items on the desk and tucking some two items in the pockets of my black jeans. "Do you know where we're going?"

"I have no clue…" she said as the two of us walked down the hallway of the hotel.

It was like this the last we boarded the gummi ship. Donald and Sora were arguing about who got to pilot the gummi ship. It as a good thing that I have **her** mp3 player, and I stuck the little ear pieces into my ear and heard the music it had to offer. The title, it read as followed '_The Lost Horizon_' from the play list titled OCRemix. It was very, how could I put this, strange. It stirred feelings in my heart thought I wouldn't feel again.

Kairi was fast asleep, so I didn't feel bad that Sora and Donald were still arguing even as we traveled through space on the red colored ship.

I looked out of one of the windows, watching the stars in their natural environment. They looked beautiful there, I couldn't help but take a picture of it. I grabbed my camera phone and clicked the flash button. It captured the image of the stars as we were traveling through space. I placed my hands on my chest and I sighed for a moment. '_I wish you could see what my hearts sees…_' I prayed a little, silently in my head. '_I hope this thought can reach your heart,_' I felt a sly smile creep up on me and I shook my head placing the camera phone back into my pocket.

"Destination, Radiant Garden. Arrival time 3 hours…" the intercom was fully automated, and it pierced through the sound of the music I was listening too.

**A M A T E R A S U **

"Welcome back, Amaterasu." A cheerful looking ninja greeted me.

I blinked for a moment, still not use to my real name yet. I grinned sheepishly at her. She was wearing a black outfit, it reminded me of the one she wore when she was a kid. Mind you I'm older than I look, but that's my little secret. I looked back at the others who came with me. I really shouldn't call them others, they are in fact my family, well the only family I have let that is.

"It's nice to see you too, Great Ninja Yuffie!" I said giving her a big smile.

Yuffie Kisaragi blushed, I don't know if it was because of how I said it, or rather that I was embarrassing her. I knew she was still the same Yuffie, no matter how great of a ninja she became. She still got motion sickness I know that much of her is still true, I won't forget that.

"It's nice seeing you too, Yomigami, Tachigami, Gekigami, Moegami, and you too Kazegami!" she said cheerfully as we all smiled at her pleasantly. "I'd like to welcome you all back home, to Radiant Garden."

"They sent you of all people to be our receiver…" Gekigami said trying hard not to laugh. "Excuse me, excuse me…" he said bowing slightly. "It's just that you… flying this little hovercraft…" he pointed to the cargo like craft ship. "Don't you still get motion sickness?"

"No!" she said shaking her head, hopefully she knew that my brother was just joking around, or least thought that he was. "Listen, just let me do my job you guys, besides this wasn't the kind of reunion I thought we'd be having."

"True, true…" I told her smiling softly. "I didn't think the darkness would swallow Destiny Islands again, I guess I thought wrong…" I sighed heavily.

"That's where…!" I noticed the look of worry in Yuffie's eyes.

"Don't worry; they left long before that happened." I calmed her down.

Yuffie started to talk about what happened while we were gone for who knows how long. It had been so long since we were home, I mean _finally_ home, back where this all started, at least that's what I can remember at least. All of us started to go to the little cargo ship.

" Selma…" I heard Yuffie call out my preferred name. "How have you been most of all?"

"Just peachy!" I said smiling a bit. "Why do you ask, Yuffie?"

"No reason…" she said shaking her head for a moment. "Ready to see the others?"

"Hey, do we get cake after this?" I asked her trying to lighten up the mood.

"Still the same old hungry girl…" the ninja said laughing. We all ended up hearing some unearthly barking sounds from the black painted gummi ship my big brother had piloted. "What's that?" Yuffie asked stopping all of us in our tracks.

"A Shadow Hound…" Yomigami said pushing back his hair a bit. "We picked Chico up a while back…"

**R I K U **

"Riku…" my eyes weren't opening. "Riku, hey come on wake up…" someone was trying to get me to wake up. I couldn't hear the roaring engine of the gummi ship.

"Are we here?" I asked whoever it was that trying to wake me up.

I walked outside of the ship, rubbing my eyes. I was surprised that I didn't stumble forward or anything, because I was pretty tired, a three hour nap. Everything was different in Hollow Bastion, well now it's called Radiant Garden. Hollow either might mean empty or depressed, and 'bastion' meant fortress or citadel. The name probably came from the fact that the castle looked depressed, hence the title, Hollow Bastion. Anyway with that aside the place had a lot of green things, and by that I mean bushes, trees, it was looking more like a place from those Old English towns you see in fairy tales.

Donald and Goofy were showing us the way to the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, or what I like to call HBRC, a better way to remember it.

Sora was excited about coming back, because of the friends he had made while he was there. All of us were walking through the area, when something, like a needle, was slowly working its way into my heart, a little jab here and there. I winced slightly looking at my chest for a moment, there was nothing there.

**As the group walked… **

Riku sighed for a moment and that it was nothing more than just heartburn, or something like that. He continued to follow the others down the area, sometimes though he would look over his shoulder, thinking that he was being watched sometimes.

"I wonder what's up with everyone…" Sora said looking back at Kairi and Riku. The others just shrugged they didn't know. It took a while for everyone to finally make it to the headquarters of the HBRC.

Sora noticed that a couple of people had gone inside, and for a moment he could've sworn he saw Yuffie in that bunch. He shook his head and made a mad dash to the front, he couldn't wait to see everyone again.

**Within the building… **

"They're in a meeting?" Sora asked looking at what the wooden door inside the building had. "But…" he thought about it some more and sighed.

The younger male Keyblade wielder just sighed and sat down on one of the wooden chairs. He was looking forward to seeing them again, but he had to wait now. Donald and Goofy looked around the place, calling out some of the people's names from the HBRC.

**Upstairs… **

"As I live and breathe," a man with brown hair and matching facial hair cried out happily. He wore a blue suit that was rather strange, but that's how he carried himself. "If it isn't the Hikari family." The members smiled slightly, and corrected him on their last name.

"Diaz, Hikari's our code name remember?" the youngest one corrected him quite casually. "It's nice to see you too, Reeve Tuesti."

Reeve _was_ head of Radiant Garden's Urban Development Department and was a primary architect for the construction of the capital called Midgar. He was a very serious, middle-aged man, and with that came into possession of a strong sense of responsibility. It had been a long time since the Diaz family had seen him, he's now the head founder of the HBRC.

"Did you really have to put that little sign on the door though?" Yomigami said hearing voices coming from downstairs. "Whoever came in sounded like they really wanted to talk to the others."

Selma hunched over slightly in her chair feeling a little jabbing pain in her heart. She exhaled sharply and muttered something under her breath.

"That sounded an awful lot like Sora…" they all heard Yuffie speak out.

"Sora?" Amaterasu called out looking up at the others, she breathed in a bit, feeling her heart mentally twist in pain. She noticed that Reeve leaned forward in his leather chair, placing his elbows on the wooden desk, he had his hands closed together.

"It's better for now, that you all keep under a low profile. It's not all that safe for you guys to be sticking your heads out from hiding." The others nodded understanding everything that was at stake.

**Downstairs… **

Sora was pacing back and forth a bit, looking at the wooden door with the note on it. He did kill some time as he had gone to pay his visit to Winnie the Pooh in the book. He had taken Riku and Kairi along for the ride, both of them seemed to have liked the peaceful setting there. It made the others feel better too, they didn't really like waiting that much. The spiky haired Keyblade wielder sighed and suddenly his curiosity couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed hold of the brass doorknob and the others watched his every move. Sora's blue eyes scanned the area upstairs and noticed a white light coming forth from the cracks in the door, the air was a bit frosty, which meant that someone had the air conditioning on. He stopped himself from going any further and closed the door letting his conscious get the better of him.

Sora sighed a bit and went to go sit on a wooden chair, he titled the chair back and forth hopefully passing the time as he did that.

**Upstairs… **

"I suppose that's all I have to say for this meeting…" Reeve said as he adjusted his blue suit.

"Hey… How's Cait Sith?" Moegami asked.

"If I remember correctly…" Reeve was going to say something but Yuffie interrupted him.

"He's on a mission, I think…" the ninja said laughing sheepishly noticing she had cut Reeve off. It was a miracle that the little robotic cat had kept quiet during his little mission.

"You know, I know I really shouldn't be asking this but," Amaterasu asked the question her siblings had wanted to ask earlier. She still felt the stinging sensation in her heart but ignored it as she spoke. "Did you ever find Vincent Valentine?"

As she said this a pang of hurt rose to the 'Great Ninja Yuffie's' face. The question was directed to anyone who could anser with a simple 'yes' or 'no'. The silence Amaterasu… Selma in this case, she took the silence for a bit fat 'no'. Selma shook her head and apologized seeing as how the whole group turned melancholy as she mentioned that person's name.

"But I know we'll find him," it surprised everyone in that room that Leon, the young man with a scar across his face, was the one to speak out in that optimistic tone of voice. In his opinion he just didn't want to see Yuffie look so hurt by that. Aerith Gainsborough would most likely have been the one to say something like but currently she wasn't here at the moment.

**With Aerith… **

Aerith Gainsborough rushed inside the building, panting a moment as she caught her breath. She attracted a lot of attention to herself seeing as how she stormed into the building, her and her little pink outfit. The maiden was glad to see Sora, Donald, and Goofy once more thanking them for their journey and how it had brought some peace to the worlds once more.

She greeted Sora and the others with her trademark smile and voice. Sora and the others greeted Aerith in their own way and the brown haired maiden opened her mouth to speak as introductions were said and done.

"Do any of you know if they're still holding the meeting upstairs?" she asked looking at everyone in the room. Her greens eyes tried to scan the other's eyes to get an answer. They all nodded.

"It's still going on…" Riku said looking at Aerith for a moment.

"I'm late…" she said smiling slightly as she started to open the door that led upstairs.

"What exactly is the meeting about?" Kairi asked since no one else would ask the question.

"That… I don't know," Aerith place a slender finger on her chin as she thought about it for a little while. "They just told me to be here by 1. I ended up oversleeping, you know how that can be." She rubbed her eyes slightly, her green eyes seemed watery as she tried to fight off a yawn.

**Upstairs… **

Selma sighed and ended up spinning around in her chair. There were wheels attached to the bottom of it. The other members of her family just looked at her a bit confused by her actions, she smiled brightly at them, and it was a sign that indicated something was on her mind. Tachigami noticed a small necklace around her younger sibling's neck.

"What's that?" she asked taking some interest in her younger sister's personal gift.

"A gift…" she felt a gentle tone of voice creep up on her when she explained the little pendant. As Selma's fingers touched the little pendant she felt that pain come back into her heart. '_Why won't it go away?_' she thought back to something Riku had told her. '_No matter the distance I'll always be with you…_' she shook her head for a moment and just let out a heavy sigh. '_It's a start, anway…And if Sora's here that must mean _**he**_'s_ _here too!_' her heart was pounding with excitement. '_But I can't…_'

Downstairs Riku felt his heart beating a little faster whenever he'd look at the door that separated the meeting. He couldn't explain what it was his heart was trying to tell him, but he knew that he couldn't just barge in there and disrupt the meeting.

**Anyway I want at least _1_ review it's not that hard, but oh well. I won't mind I'll keep writing even without it.**


	7. Her Desire

**A/N: Thanks** KH meerkats **I really appreciate your review, don't feel bad though it happens to a lot of us. I'm still waiting for you to update, so don't worry. **

**Thanks** Princess Kaira of Mirana** I'll make them meet one way or another, oh yeah the text message it'll arrive really soon! **

**On with the story… **

**Chapter Seven: Her Desire **

"Hey you guys welcome back!" the ninja said happily, greeting her friends with a bone crushing bear hug.

Sora wasn't paying attention at all to what his friends were saying. He saw a couple of dark shadows from the top of the stairs. In the blink of an eye, as quickly as he saw the shadows, they seemed to disappear, almost melting at the foot of the stairs, Sora couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing.

"Hey… Did any of you guys see any dark shadows up there?" the blue eyes boy asked, pointing to where he last saw the dark outlines. Yuffie and the others exchange confused glance with one another.

"How have you guys been?" Leon asked in his same old fashion tone, he was changing the subject.

Sora went on rambling about how their vacation time was cut short and what not. The young ninja placed a smirk on her face as she teased Sora about how things were working out with Kairi. Both of the blue eyed teens looked at each other and laughed nervously, both individuals trying hard to cover up the tinge of embarrassment placed on their faces. As Sora recovered from his little embarrassing dilemma he started to go on and mention the new friend they had left behind.

Riku shifted his weight to his right leg, feeling a bit out of place, he decided to go and sit down on one of the wooden chairs next to the girl with the green eyes. Aerith welcomed him with a warm smile.

"Riku really like her a lot," Sora said rubbing the back of his head as the others were hearing his story. "Her name was-"

"Aw, well I guess that means I can't introduce you to a good friend of ours. She just came back from a trip." Yuffie said moving her head a bit to get a better look at Riku, who sat in one of the chairs that was propped up against a wall. Sora looked back and noticed the look on his friend's face; no doubt Kairi knew what Riku was thinking about. Sora did feel a bit ignored, but he knew he shouldn't feel like that. He went on to talking about other things hopefully to make Riku feel a bit comfortable.

Aerith smiled at Riku slightly and asked him how things had been with himself. By that Riku knew well enough that she meant how was his heart. Was it still being plagued by the darkness he wished to dispel?

"I guess, I've been okay," the turquoise eyed teen didn't know where to start. "I've been feeling a more at peace though. We just came back from Atlantica not that long ago, it was pretty hectic, Heartless everywhere…"

He recounted a tale about a vicious attack by a gigantic squid like Heartless. Donald had been knocked out and Goofy was shielding him from on coming attacks. Riku, he had been injured on his left shoulder. Kairi was dodging on coming spells with ease, and she was getting use to blocking with her own keyblade. Sora charged with full force underwater, and Riku was in back of him, as well of course back up.

"I got careless and the squid like Heartless flung one of its tentacles at me hitting my whole body," he said using his hands as he spoke. "Kairi came up from behind and hacked off one of the tentacles on the Heartless…"

Aerith watched him with the same attentive gaze Selma use to place on him whenever he spoke. He finished off his talk saying that the giant Heartless was defeated. He felt the tinge of pain in his heart subdue, and his heart beat returned to normal now. Sora and Kairi looked at the expression Riku placed on his facial feature, he looked more relieved now.

**r i k u **

I looked up a moment sighing in relief as the pain in my heart was finally going away. It wasn't heartburn but more like a pain in my chest, but it wasn't anything serious. I don't really know what it was anyway, maybe it's got something to do with that fight I had earlier with that giant Heartless or something like that.

Aerith went on and asked me who the girl was Sora heard her mention. I told her that **she**was a very good friend of ours. At that point I felt my cheeks get a bit red and I looked down so that my hair could cover my face. I could sense that Aerith was smiling, but I didn't want anyone to see that I was blushing that badly.

I do miss her, but I know we aren't far apart in spirit where ever I go a piece of **her**will be with me and I know it's the same for **her**. After all **she** is my friend and I don't want to lose that special place **she**'s already made in my heart, it's unbreakable, that and the fact that we shared a paopu fruit together…

I'm never telling anyone what I did that day, or else they'd never let me live it down. It's better I keep it like that because then me and **her** have something we can talk about in secret. I hope I can keep the promise I made to myself…

_"I'm going to protect you and Mom," I said to her smiling slightly before I left to board the gummi ship. _

_"But you're going to be far away…" _ _Selma__ said clearing her throat a bit. _

_"No matter the distance I'll always be with you," I told her that from the bottom of my heart. _

_"All right but you have to promise yourself something." _

_"A promise to myself?" I asked her a bit confused. _

_"Yeah when we see each other again promise me and yourself you'll have found your **light** by then, okay?" _

'_My light… If only she knew,_' I thought to myself as I heard someone calling out my name. It was Yuffie, I waved a small hand to her and she smiled. I excused myself from where Aerith and I were sitting and said a goodbye to the others as I went to go walk outside.

I remember how depressing Hollow Bastion was, and I understand how it got its name, I'd really like to go see it though, the decaying castle. I walked around the town passing the shops with accessories and what not. Something by the Moogle's stand caught my eye.

A pair of light blue earrings with a black essence swirling around it, and attached to the blue little orbs were feathers from some bird called a Chocobo whatever that was anyway. The Moogle, with its bouncing pompom thing, called it 'Earrings of Destiny'. I would have called it 'Earrings of Bankruptcy' they were too expensive, about one hundred thousand munny, and I didn't have that kind of money, even if I did I wouldn't buy it. It was just eye candy, see that's why I like window shopping. I like browsing and bugging some certain people.

The Moogle was being nice and asked me if I have any items or recipes for synthesizing. I remember pulling out a couple of scripts of Moogle text from this little pocket on the bottom right side of my jeans. All my synthesizing items were in a little box somewhere back on the gummi ship.

"Got any items you want to synthesis, kuppo?" the Moogle asked me.

I shook my head in reply, and I noticed at the text was being translated I had more than enough to make some certain items that caught my eye, I really wished I had taken my little material box with me today, but I didn't.

**Deeper inside the HBRC building… **

"How did you like Destiny Islands?" Reeve asked looking at the Diaz family.

Reeve, Cid, Merlin, and the siblings were in a room now that was completely different from the meeting held in the other area. The walls were of a plain beige color, it was easy to tell that the whole floor was wooden and it shined bright from the wooden polishing liquid. There was a big metallic like desk in the center of the room, it looked like a round table, and metallic like chairs around it. There was an enormous screen on one of the walls near the table. This was another kind of meeting place.

"I liked the place a lot, a shame though it got swallowed up so easily…" Gekigami said making himself comfortable in the room. "We could've stayed and fought off the Heartless but we didn't know if **they** would be there…"

"Exactly…" Tachigami said nodding in agreement with her younger brother. Selma on the other hand was still feeling some emotional attachment to the isles as they were by far the best places she ever went too.

The gummi ship expert noticed the look on Selma's face and was the first one to ask her the question, "Whatcha got on your mind, kid?" Cid knew of course that she was by far older than him, but he still got use to calling her that.

"Nothing much, Cid Highwind," Selma said a smile forming from the corner of her mouth. "So how are you and Shera? You two still argue?"

Cid's face turned a bit scarlet at the mention of the woman's name. They of course had some history that the Diaz family, as well as Reeve and Merlin knew. Reeve cut to the chase and told them that the two of them had gotten married.

"I wonder what the kids are going to look like…" Geki said tilting his chair back a bit. Moegami smacked his brother on the side of his head.

"No doubt you have met the keybearer?" Reeve asked raising a questioning look. He noticed that Selma looked away from his gaze. "Did you get a chance to meet him, Amaterasu?" he would rather call her by the name her mother left her with.

"I've met him a couple of times, but so long that we'd get close…" Tachigami snickered as her youngest sister started to answer. "I did meet the one who was destined to be the chosen one, but as you know he picked the path to darkness, so that title was given to Sora."

"She extremely got attached to that one…" Kazegami said giving a big smile to her older sister. "Didn't you, Amaterasu?"

"Is it true, Amaterasu?" Reeve couldn't help but lean in on his chair, he did seem interested in the personal life she had given herself.

"We're very close friends, but that's about it," she said laughing nervously and she rubbed the back of her head. "Um, anyway," Selma changed the subject at a more important matter at hand. "The darkness how far has it started to spread?"

That was a topic every single person there got into. Merlin used his wand to bring the enormous screen to life with images of different worlds. Reeve invited everyone to sit down on the chairs, and from the metallic looking round table screens from the table protruded from the top of the table. The siblings looked at one another and every one of them were thinking the same exact thing '_Too many spy movies._'

Yomigami watched the screen as different places were being monitored. No doubt Cid and Shera were in charge for the satellite's orbital patterns and trajectory pattern. One of the satellite's images were starting to get a bit hazy when the two twins, Moegami and Kazegami pointed it out. Everyone watched the screen on the number titled XII. The world was slowly being covered in a black like aura, it came from the south pole of the planet.

"Watching this, you can almost imagine the planet crying…" Reeve and Amaterasu said feeling sorry for the planet and its inhabitants. They looked at the planet as the darkness started to swirl around it, and as if it were like an eclipse, a strange black star with an ominous orange and red tinge hovered over the planet. It was responsible for the darkness that covered the planet, and with that transmission from satellite XII was cut.

"It's been happening, but at a slow rate," Merlin the wizard explained finally taking a moment to speak. "Six worlds have already been swallowed up, including the inlands."

"What were the other worlds?" Amaterasu asked leaning against her seat.

"The world where Beast's Castle was located," Reeve said transmitting an image from his screen to the other screens. "The Pride Lands, Port Royal and the rest of that place, the Coliseum, Traverse Town, and Twilight Town…" with that Reeve pressed a button so multiple satellite pictures of those various worlds could be viewed on the other screens.

"Wasn't Twilight Town just a…?" Tachigami started to speak and she noticed Reeve Tuesti nodding in agreement.

"None the less it is a real world, well now it is anyway…" Cid said wiping his nose with his thumb. Moegami noticed the toothpick in Cid's mouth it was unlike his nature to have something so simple against his mouth.

"Weren't you smoking the last time we saw you?" Moegami asked raising his eyebrow a bit.

"Shera's making me quiet…" Cid mumbled under his breath.

"The Chaser's are starting to surface again," Reeve said noticing a look of disgust on the sibling's expressions.

"That they are…" Amaterasu said speaking in a cold tone for the rest of her family. "They're going to be giving us hell if they find out we're alive…"

"Then, are you willing to train them, the group of Keyblade wielders?" he directed them to Yomigami considering the fact he was the oldest.

"To fight the Chasers?" Yomigami asked, smirking with a twisted smile. "You know how I teach. I'll train them as killers, not protectors…"

"I take it then, we have to let a dark age come back?" Amaterasu said looking at Reeve straight in the eyes.

"Not exactly, we have to train them to be the darkness… Yomigami and you yourself specialize in that… But please Yomigami don't let your bloodlust take the best of you." Reeve shifted uncomfortably as he said this noticing a menacing smile Yomigami placed on his lips.

"Aw, don't worry old man," he said laughing a bit. "That's why Amaterasu will accept the job position. I bet she doesn't want me killing her boyfriend."

"What?" Selma looked at confused eyes.

**a m a t e r a s u **

The Chasers, to be honest we lost that position a long time ago when I met a young boy who King Ansem had found, the real King Ansem not the imposter I watched grow up. My brother and I were a result of a great experiment called 'Project Blitz'. Even though my brother is by far older than me, the two of us were picked since we each held curiosity to the darkness.

A man by the name of Hojo directed the whole thing, and that's where Yuki's, Yomigami as he is called now by his real name, blood lusting ways were instilled into him.

That's where I met others like me, a girl by the name of Shelke Rui, she was only nine years old when they kidnapped her from a country east of Radiant Garden. She was placed in operation 'Deep Ground'. Vincent Valentine willing became a an experiment and he no longer considered himself human so he slept for thirty years…

It really was a dark age back then, which was almost about thirty years ago, I think, I know it was way before Leon and the others went to Traverse Town.

But enough about that, it's not important now. It's going to be hard considering that I do have _some_ relationship with the people who will be taught under us. I'm not saying that I'm going to go soft on them either, if they get involved with a Chaser they'll be dead before they can even blink.

The meeting was adjourned, and I soon felt that pain in my heart again, I leaned over for a moment in my chair making sure everyone had left the meeting room. At that moment from my back pocket something was vibrating. I opened it, it was a text message from **him** and I knew I was turning red.

_'_Hey Selma, I miss u 2… I'd love to see the drawings you've made so far, hey send me one on your phone. We've been missing you a lot over here, I feel bad for Kairi she's the only girl in the group. I'm glad you liked the sunset, I'm going to be leaving soon, so I have to go, ttyl._' _

I ran my fingers over the buttons to reply back but something stopped me, logical thinking. '_He's closer in the area so it'll take less than five days for him to reach the message, I'll just have to wait a day or so…_'

I really wished I could just run up and hug them all, but I can't it's a price being a Chaser… An ex-Chaser now, but I don't want to dwell back on my family's profession from a long time ago it'd take hours to even break down what a Chaser is, but for now I have to keep my mind closed a bit, so as not to get distracted.

Chaser… I really wish that was what our family sometimes, instead of running away, but I don't want the sins of our family to catch up with us. It's better that no one knows the real truth, see what Chaser's do want is something dangerous if they get their hands on it, and yet we still hold on to our Chaser like nature.

"What we desire most of all…" I whispered to myself looking up at the ceiling trying to imagine the light blue sky. "Is total control of darkness…"

**A/N: You what to do _1 _review please**


	8. Kind Heart?

**A/N: Thank you** KH meerkats**! You're alive, I mean I knew you would be anyway, just saying hello and thanks for the review!!**

**Thank you Princess** Kaira of Mirana**, I did know about Amaterasu so that's why I wanted her to be named that, so yes it is ironic considering what she wants. Don't worry they will meet one day that is. **

**Thank you very much **SimpleNClean92**, yeah it's kind of hard fitting some of the other FF characters in there, but I love a good challenge. **

**On with the story then… **

**Chapter Eight: Kind Heart? **

Aerith sighed for a small moment looking up at the broken roof from inside the chapel. It brought back a feeling of nostalgia when she gazed up there, watching the clouds move as the breeze passed by. It had been a couple of weeks since she decided to visit the place where she met the blonde haired man.

The sunbeams were piercing through some of the pieces of rotting wood. This place had been abandoned for decades, probably before even Amaterasu and her siblings were born. Still this was the only place that she knew, in her lifetime that would produce flowers. The soil underneath the wooden floors was very fertile.

Aerith had changed her attire, rather than wearing the two piece outfit she had worn last year, she decided to wear that certain pink dress, as a way of grieving. She met Cloud while she wore this dress, and somehow she thought that this time he'd come back for sure, just like he did last time.

_Aerith walked up the stairs to where the meeting was being held, and she caught sight of many familiar faces. She held a big open smile, feeling her eyes form tears. The dark haired girl turned around hearing her true name being called out. The green eyed flower maiden ran forward holding on tight to young girl as if she would melt away. _

_"You're back!" she said smiling as tears slide down her cheeks. Amaterasu gave a sad smile and patted Aerith gently on her back. "I thought we'd lost you…" _

_"Last time I saw you, you were wearing a dress really similar to this one…" the ex-Chaser said trying to get her to feel happy. _

_"Yeah," Aerith paused for a moment before letting the young girl go. "I'm sorry for being late everyone, I overslept…" _

_"You… Oversleeping? Cloud use to do that…" Gekigami said, not knowing how much is pained Aerith to hear his name. _

_The other siblings stared at Gekigami with a rather hurt look. As Yuffie was taking them to the meeting she had explain to them that Cloud had left yet again. Yuffie though, in retaliation to the name smacked Gekigami on his head, and he apologized. Aerith like always placed a strong mask on her face and told her that he would come back, because his light would guide him. _

_Aerith remembered how Yomigami, Cloud, and a boy named Zack had all been close before. It was all in the past now, but she wished that those days would come back, because that was when nobody even knew the darkness existed. _

_She was able to get Amaterasu to stay a bit after the meeting. _

_"Please, Ammi…" Aerith began calling her by her nickname, "I want t know if you've seen Cloud anywhere." _

_"…I…" it did pain her to say the truth. "I haven't Aerith, I'm sorry…" Amaterasu said looking away from her. _

_"…Oh…" she was so sure that Amaterasu would have seen or heard from him. "It's okay, I'm sure he'll come back." _

_"You're a very brave girl, Aerith… I wish I could be like you." Amaterasu said hugging her. "He's probably in __Traverse_ _Town__… You know, where those who've lost their world go to." _

Aerith didn't know that at the second meeting Traverse Town was swallowed up by the darkness. It was best that she didn't know for now, and probably no one would ever tell her.

Aerith heard leaves crack under the weight of her brown boots. She walked past the decaying pews of the chapel. And now stood directly under the hole in the roof, she looked down at the white and yellow lilies that were underneath her feet. These were the same flowers that broke Cloud's fall. They were all young teens then, with Yuffie being the youngest child there.

This was the same place where she met Amaterasu and Yomigami, when the two of them were still undergoing experimental procedures. Aerith had walked in on them as they were discussing whether or not steal the darkness within the heart of the world. Discovering that a child had walked in on them during their conversation, they figured it best not to carry out the deed.

"So many memories…" Aerith said sitting on one of the broken concrete columns near the alter of the chapel. "I hope you're looking back at some of those wonderful memories Cloud, where ever you may be…"

_"What's this?" Aerith asked holding a lumpy brown seed in her hand. _

_"A paopu fruit seed." Amaterasu said gleefully. "I got it back from __Destiny_ _Islands__. You should plant on near the old chapel." _

_"A paopu fruit, you mean those star shaped fruit?" Aerith asked wondering how such a little thing could produce a star shaped fruit. "I thought you didn't believe in things like that, Ammi?" she knew the legend behind the fabled power of the star shaped fruit. _

'_Should I plant one?_' Aerith thought about it long and hard, her green eyes looking deeply at a small patch of dirt. It seemed to be the right size for a tree to grow in, and it probably didn't hurt to try. Here in this are the paopu trees were very rare, and maybe planting more of them would do the agriculture good.

_"As for me… I'm going to plant a lot of them where ever I go!" Amaterasu said taking Aerith's hand in her hand. "A little reminder for a special friend of mine…" _

_"I take it it's one of Sora's friends?" Aerith said noticing the blush on the girl. _

"I'll plant one here…" Aerith said pulling out the side from her side pocket. "If Cloud does come crashing down here one day, he'll have something else to break his fall."

**Within ****Radiant** **Garden****… **

"This place it brings back a lot of memories, doesn't it?" Yomigami asked his youngest sister.

Yomigami this time styled his hair a bit different. He brought his bangs forward and spike up the rest of his hair in the back. The blood lusting, ex-Chaser, was wearing a black baggy t-shirt with tight jeans and a black studded belt, and white tennis shoes.

"Some I wish I could forget…" Amaterasu said pushing her hair back a bit.

She decided that this time she'd go by her real name, rather than her middle name. Amaterasu decided to keep her hair natural wavy, as it was once before. Though to throw some certain people off guard she curled the tips of her hair. She liked it better this way, a better improvement she thought on her part.

Amaterasu wore a white shirt with graffiti like letters in red that read 'Coracoa Selvagem' Portuguese meaning 'Wild Heart'. The text had more of a blood splatter effect, it was something her older brother despised partially due to his blood lusting, but he had learned to control his actions when she wore something that affected his nature.

"Forget… Amaterasu, surely you've got more wonderful memories than bad ones…"

"It's about half and half then, Yomigami," she said looking at her brother for a moment. The look of surprise was drawn across his face. "I've decided to go with my real name again, we'll see how long it lasts…" she said. Her eyes traveled down the empty ravine and located the once proud castle of the former King Ansem. It was now reduced to ruble. "It breaks my heart, knowing what happened to the castle."

"Yeah well, you have you're ex-boyfriend to thank for that." Yomigami said harboring some resentment to the person he was referring to.

"We never were together…" she tried again justify her actions. "We were good friends nothing more…"

"That good friend of your cost us our position as Chasers…" Yomigami said, "If he were alive today I'd kill him for what he did to our position…"

"His memory is out there somewhere, why not just kill that?" Amaterasu said looking at her brother for a moment.

"Because we need that…" Yomigami said smacking his sister gently on the side of the head. "I don't want to screw up the promise we made to King Mickey."

"How many promises have we made to people?" she asked trying to count with her fingers.

"More than you could possibly ever count…" Yomigami placed his hand down at his side, as if he was going to pet something, and he looked down confused for a moment. "Where's Chico?" he asked looking around the area.

"A Shadow Hound's loose?!" Amaterasu said looking at her brother. "You idiot why'd you bring Chico outside!?"

**With Sora and Kairi… **

"We should start heading out to other worlds soon." Sora said looking at Kairi slightly.

"Hush Sora, don't speak…" Kairi said watching her pencil capture the image before her eyes. "It's hard to draw your face when you keep moving your eyes like that, not to mention your mouth…"

Sora had volunteered to be Kairi's little model, since Riku wasn't around right now. Other than that Sora did want some time to be alone with her, but this wasn't the kind of alone time he was thinking about. Sora shifted his gaze back to what he had been focusing on earlier. They were inside one of the various inns that Radiant Garden's had to offer the Keyblade Wielders.

Something moved about outside the window, and Sora could faintly hear something growling near the window, and it seemed unearthly. Kairi stopped what she was doing and looked up as she saw Sora move out of the wooden chair.

"Sora what are…?" Sora cut her off with a raised hand, and he placed a finger to his lips. He walked up to the window near the ivory colored walls. He could still hear the unearthly sounds coming from outside and his heart was beating fast in curiosity as to what is could be.

Kairi stood behinds Sora as she finally came to hear the same sound her companion heard. Sora pushed the dark curtain away from his view so he could see outside. Sora sighed in relief as he saw nothing, and he turned around and laughed it off as he told Kairi it was a false alarm.

Kairi raised her eyebrow a bit as she saw a shadow pass by the window, but thought it was just her imagination. At that moment the sound of breaking glass flooded their ears, and Sora turned around quickly, but the last things he could remember seeing was a black mass of fur with legs and teeth charge straight at him, and Kairi pulling out her Keyblade, he could remember watching the heart shaped tip of the blade, with the flowers around it.

**A couple of blocks away from the ****Inn****… **

Riku hummed to himself a song he had put on as he walked back from the Moogle's synthesis shop. As he was reaching the inn he noticed that on the side of a building a window had been broken into. He started to pick up the pace and noticed that the door had been forced out.

Riku broke into a faster stride, and at that point he started to run. He pushed himself past a couple of people and ran through a red light in traffic. He finally made it to the inn and noticed something roughly push him to the side. He spun around and looked at the creature making a mad dash with Sora's Keyblade.

Kairi busted out from the door chasing after the creature to get the Keyblade back. Riku didn't waste anytime on pulling out his own Keyblade. He peered in for a moment and noticed that Sora was resting against a wall in the room. With that Riku ran after Kairi and the creature that had the Kingdom Key weapon in its grasp.

The creature led them down the street, in and around traffic, all the way to a somewhat excluded area. It growled as it knew it was cornered by the two people that blocked its path. The two humans were gasping for some air as their human lungs supplied oxygen to their muscles.

"Stop right there!" Kairi said pointing the Keyblade in the direction of the creature. It just growled a bit, like if it were laughing. It started to move to the side, and Riku followed it.

At that moment with neck breaking speed the creature rushed past Riku, using Sora's Keyblade as a weapon, and Kairi blocked the dashing attack, and she strained under the force the creature had used for such ant attack.

Riku decided that two on one was far, and went from behind to attack it, but with the creature's sense of hearing, it dodged Riku's attack with ease. Kairi jumped back as Riku's weapon almost collided with her.

The creature taunted the two of them by tossing Sora's weapon in the air for a moment. This living thing obviously had a higher level of intelligence than most other species of animal alive. Riku jumped into the air trying to perform an Aerial Sweep, but the creature performed a similar version of Strike Raid, tossing Sora's Keyblade directly at him.

"Stopra!" Kairi yelled out raising her Keyblade, any second too soon at the Sora's Keyblade might have collided with Riku's face. The creature turned its attention to Kairi now and let out an unearthly barking sound in protest to the spell.

**a m a t e r a s u **

'_Where in the world did __Chico__ go?_' I asked myself walking around the city now. I shook my head and noticed a couple of cars. They looked like they got into a car accident. A couple of people were saying that two kinds started to run in and out of traffic chasing something, but that they didn't get a good look at it.

I started to look around some buildings and alleyways. My brother was walking around the area whistling to coax the Shadow Hound out of hiding. I rubbed the back of my head and ended up whistling, knowing that Chico, the Shadow Hound, was capable of hearing that well. I noticed that an inn had its window broken, and the front door was broken into as well.

The owners of the inn were taking care of someone who had been knocked out. I looked inside and noticed to my surprise that the mess of brown hair, and that familiar black outfit, it had to be Sora. ' _Chico__'s not even that strong, and he got knocked out by him… He needs a lot of work, Sora, not the dog…_' I thought to myself asking the owners of the inn how the boy was doing. They told me he was fine, he just got knocked out from the impact of the floor.

I whistled to my brother and he came running in my direction. He started to pant a bit shaking his head for a moment. He asked me if I had gotten a led on Chico.

"Yeah… I'm assuming it's down there…" I said pointing with one hand down the street. I watched my brother draw an invisible mark with complicated lines on the concrete, and within moments the darkness sprouted up from the cracks on the sidewalk, and we melted into the ground.

In a matter of seconds there was a pool of black goo under our feet, and it started to give us our height back. We found ourselves at the entrance of a somewhat excluded area. I looked back at my brother as his right arm started to turn back into its flesh tone color. I didn't really like the whole idea of traveling like that, but it was the easiest and the fastest, I can say that much for sure.

" Chico can hear our whistles from all the way over there…" my brother pointed out from where we came from.

"Something's got him preoccupied…" I said extending my hand out, before my very eyes a Keyblade of a wicked shape and form materialized from the air. The Keyblade formed a hilt on my palm, and it started to reconstruct itself, like a broken, almost liquefied, puzzle. "I guess we can spare a bit with them, before we test them next time…"

"It's not fair, Sora's knocked out…" Yomigami said flashing a wicked smile on his face. I knew he was ready to taste blood, but he'd have to control himself. "I'd really like to see that kid fight…" he extended out both of his hands and two Keyblades mixed with a design similar to that of Oblivion wrapped around an invisible spin to form itself like a weapon. "You're not using your other one?"

"No… Besides we have to get Chico away from there, not make it worse…"

"I hate it when you're right…" he said withdrawing one of his weapons. "Just for that I go after Riku…"

"You wouldn't dare…" I said giving him a warning.

"Watch me…" he said flashing a cruel smile before running down the alley.

**r i k u **

"Move back, Kairi!" I yelled slashing through the air as the creature moved to the side.

It was fast I'll admit, but everything has a weakness right. I jumped back as it swung a clawed paw at me. It was growling, swing the Keyblade around.

'_Why hasn't it gone back to Sora yet… Unless this thing has a strong heart…_' I thought kicking the creature away from me. Its breath smelled really foul, like rotten eggs or something. I don't know but it made me want to gag. Kairi was casting spells, but I told her to be careful and not use up all her energy.

"Riku, left!" she yelled out.

All I knew was that my Keyblade blocked an attack from the creature. There was a loud whistle around the area and the creature barked at me and then to Kairi. That's when it started to growl again at us.

"Drop it!" I heard a male call out.

The creature did as it was told to do, apparently this guy was the owner, of that _thing_. The Keyblade _clinked_ as it hit the ground and the creature moved away from Kairi and me. I looked back at the entrance and noticed two people there. They were holding Keyblades.

One of them greeted me with a wicked smile that sent shivers down my spine. Again, that pain in my heart came back, it was starting to annoy me so badly, that and because I didn't know what in the world was causing it.

The girl, who held the more malicious crafted Keyblade, her left arm twitched a bit. Something about her looked so oddly familiar but it was probably just the skin color that was all.

"So then…" the male spoke. "You're the ones that keep him from coming back…"

"What?" I asked lowering my weapon down for just a second.

"He was trying to get back to us when you were fighting him…" the girl spoke out, her voice seemed so distant, like if I heard it in a dream or something like that. "It's not nice making a Shadow Hound late for something, they like being punctual most of the time."

"Well, sorry…" I said raising my weapon in a defensive stance. "Mind telling me why you have Keyblades?"

"Nope…" the male with the studded belt said. He rushed forward and before I knew it I was knocked down to the ground. "You'll have to knock me down, and then you'll find out…"

Kairi was having her hands full with the female fighter, she had a good defense but she lacked offense to back it all up, she was unbalanced. The girl with the wicked looking Keyblade, it looked like she was an expert or something.

"Hey…" the guy said, I could feel the blade from his Keyblade pierce my right shoulder. "Don't get distracted… You'll die…"

**Current Scene… **

Kairi moved back casting Reflect, but that had no affect on the female attacker. She yelped as the wicked Keyblade missed her by an inch, but the force of the attack itself was enough to cut a small indent on her side.

"Don't get cocky…" the wicked Keyblade wielder told her. "Just because you have that Keyblade, doesn't mean you'll be guaranteed safety…"

"Amaterasu, stop playing with her already!" Yomigami called out as he dodged Riku's attack with ease.

Yomigami dodged Riku's second oncoming attack and rolled forward, grasping Sora's Keyblade in the process. The blood lusting individual grinned at Riku as he displayed his own attacks with two Keyblades.

"You're just lucky Kingdom Key is slowing me down…!" Yomigami said feeling Riku block his attack. He knew though that Riku was straining to push the attack back.

Kairi hit the wall with enough force to almost dislocate her right shoulder. Amaterasu mentally apologized, and silently casted a Curaga spell on her shoulder. Kairi dashed forward, and almost stabbed Amaterasu in the leg if she had moved slightly.

"You got lucky I have such a _kind heart_…" Amaterasu said locking her Keyblade with Kairi's and flung it into the air.


	9. Isles and Lucifer

**A/N: Thanks** DJ Diddy Dog **glad you like it!**

SimpleNClean92 **I updated, so umm... Read please?**

**On with the story… **

**Chapter Nine: Isles and Lucifer**

Kairi watched as her Keyblade was flung into the air, the metallic luster was glinting a bit as the sun's rays gleamed across the area. At that point she felt something razor-sharp touch her neck, her blue eyes stared at the edge of the Keyblade, and she let out a small whimper, as would anyone who had something dangerously close to them.

Her Keyblade fell with a heavy metallic thud, and Riku stopped in the middle of his attack, thinking that Kairi had fallen or something. Yomigami took his chance and knocked Riku down. Yomigami's blade lightly touched Riku's shoulder, and Riku could feel a dark presence in his attacker.

"I told you not to get distracted…" he told the fallen boy. "My sister won't hurt anyone… But _I _one the other hand have a difficult time following that…"

"Don't you dare…!" Amaterasu said in a rather cold tone to her oldest sibling. She had Kairi in a corner all to herself. "That's enough…"

"Just one little piercing… I mean I'll heal it all up, I just want to see if he bleeds black blood, I mean he did once become the darkness, did he not?" Yomigami pushed his Keyblade a bit further, breaking the skin, and Riku winced slightly at the pain.

"Brother…" she said in a commanding tone.

Riku took the chance and slowly pushed the Keyblade away using both of his hands, and it was a rather risky move, anyone could admit to that. Yomigami one the other hand pretended not to notice as he watched his sister carefully, she in return did the same.

"Kairi, call your Keyblade back!" Riku said straining to push the blade away from his shoulder.

Kairi's mind wasn't focusing at all on her weapon, but rather the dangerous weapon that hovered close to her. Her mind went blank, and she forgot how to call her weapon back to her side. Amaterasu on the other hand just let out a small side, and drew her weapon back down to her side. Yomigami continued to have Riku pinned down, nudging his weapon against his shoulder, the turquoise eyed teen cried out in pain as the Keyblade broke a millimeter of skin.

"Stop!" Amaterasu cried out to her brother, somehow Kairi could sense that the girl was feeling concerned for his well being.

Riku held his Keyblade in his right hand, and strained to raise the weapon up, close to Yomigami's leg. The eldest brother just looked at Riku and laughed slightly, and then smiled at him for a moment.

"I guess your blood bleeds red… Shame I thought the darkness would still be in you…" Yomigami said pulling out his weapon. Riku's shoulder was soon beginning to ache in pain as he could feel blood slowly run down his arm.

At the same time Amaterasu felt a sharp pain pierce her should as well, but she managed to hide her reaction. Her heart was starting to twist a bit, as she could feel Riku's pain. Such was the fate the paopu fruit had instilled on her. She could feel his pain, but to a minimum, where it would just be just like a little stab, and nothing more.

"Let's go…" the girl said looking back at her big brother, his gaze was still on Riku as he casted a Cure on the boy's bleeding shoulder.

"I told you I'd fix…" Yomigami said grabbing Riku roughly by his collared shirt. "You're really lucky my sister has pity for you." With that Riku was on his feet, with his Keyblade still in his possession.

Kairi on the other hand managed to call her weapon back, but it was too late now. The Shadow Hound was standing next to the girl with the wicked Keyblade, and Sora's Keyblade was still in Yomigami's position.

"Give this to Sora…" the blood lusting fighter said, throwing the metallic weapon to Kairi. "Tell him we said 'hi'." And with that he smiled happily at the two individuals.

"We'll see you guys again someday…" Amaterasu said directing the Shadow Hound where to go. "Until then, Kairi… Get some offense _please_…"

**Two weeks after… **

Port Royal, believe it or not, the place has been opened back up somehow. Sora and the gang noticed that they didn't need to clear the pathway, since something, or someone had already banished the Heartless gummi ships from the area.

Upon arriving to Port Royal Sora, Donald, and Goofy along with Riku and Kairi, discovered that the darkness had been slightly diminished thanks to the Sun Goddess and her children.

"Sun Goddess?" Sora asked Captain Jack Sparrow.

"Aye…" Jack said feeling a bit rather detached from the whole conversation. He was contemplating on the events the unfolded before. Sora stared at the captain for a moment trying to figure out why he was acting so distant. "That lass, she sure could fray mighty well against those Heartless…"

"Was she the one who helped?" the young Keyblade wielder asked.

"She be the one who caused this disturbance…" a voice said sitting next to Sparrow.

This woman's name is Tia Dalma. A voodoo priestess who traded Captain Jack Sparrow his famous compass seven years prior for a bag of gold. Apparently this voodoo priestess knew Jack Sparrow even before, possibly during his childhood, but that's best remained unsaid.

Captain Jack Sparrow spoke of how once the fight with the East India Trading Company and the Brethren of the Coast, things started to go rather peaceful. It wasn't until two weeks ago that the attack of those Heartless started to worry the people around the area. With Will and Elizabeth off in another part of the world, Jack was left with his crew and the Black Pearl. He, believe it or not, was still bent on mastering the Keyblade, he remembered that he'd be the one to take Sora's weapon away from him. Donal and Goofy laughed at Sora seeing as how he was getting defensive about Jack beating him.

"That's besides the point…" Jack said continuing with his story. Kairi and Riku, along with Donald and Goofy were entranced by the captain's story. "That lass ended up taking something from this heart, I suppose one could call it…"

"A heart?" Sora asked.

Jack Sparrow nodded, "It's interesting, she pulled something out of that heart, a rather big heart at that too…"

"Her name be that of the fabled sun goddess, but she don't act like one at all…" Tia said recounting what she had seen. "She pulled something out from that heart, something that was as black as night…"

"The darkness from the heart of the world…?" Kairi asked looking at the voodoo priestess. Tia nodded in agreement to her assumption.

"Sun Goddess did look a tad upset, she seemed rather sorry," Jack said. "That's when the Heartless came, trying to reclaim that darkness…"

"And everything after that has been calm?" Riku asked, still finding it hard to believe.

"Heartless here and there, but nothing _Cap-_" as Jack was going to finish his line a familiar monkey jumped on him, causing his hat to come off. The monkey screeched happily and perched himself on Tia's shoulder. Donald and Goofy jumped at the noise the monkey made.

"Don't tell me…" Jack fixed his hat and looked back trying to find that familiar person. Somehow the little are they were sitting in was a very open place where people could find them, and by people it was probably just Jack the monkey. Captain Sparrow didn't find the person he was looking for and went back on to talking again, before Tia interrupted him.

"Take it, by how much you've been speaking about this goddess, you've been smitten by her swordplay?" Tia asked Jack, noticing how much he rambled on about Sun Goddess. Tia Dalma knew her true name, but of course she wasn't speaking, no one asked her so she did not answer.

Jack was about to answer when he heard someone come from in back of them. There was Captain Barbossa in the flesh once more. He still was and is the same captain he was before. Both he and Jack did still argue about who would be captain of the _Black Pearl_, it was still a confusing argument that never once was settled.

He still had rings on his finger, and cared very much for his appearance. His hat revealed feathers, in fact they were blue ostrich feathers, and the buttons on his coat were made from Incan silver. The weapon he had, his pistol, was taken from a Spanish pirate, which he had won in a duel that the Spanish pirate lost.

Jack, the monkey took his leave from Tia's shoulder to that of his preferred owner, Captain Hector Barbossa. That's when he spoke, "There be more of them foul creatures on that isle…" Barbossa said, his voice not missing a beat.

Sora decided that is was best to ask, but he still was a bit apprehensive in asking Barbossa.

"That same one the goddess was on, Barbossa?" Sora asked, forgetting formalities with this captain.

Captain Barbossa nodded, telling them that the isle was called Isla Cruces, which meant Crosses Island. Barbossa and Sparrow looked in back of them to witness the scene. Past the shores their eyes wandered down the horizon, the winds were starting to pick up. The howling signaled that something was aggravating the area, and that's where the storm was settling in, in the same area around that isle.

The others started to notice the scene, as it obviously had some meaning to the whole predicament.

"Something tells me a big one just came out…" Kairi said, feeling something stir up within her soul, a Heartless of this magnitude was waiting on that island.

"I wouldn't doubt it lass…" Hector Barbossa said, watching Jack Sparrow adjust his hat as it was going to fly away any second from now.

Riku felt something on his stomach, like a small twitch or something, but it was enough to make him blink in surprise. His heart, it had stopped hurting for two weeks, but the pain came back, though this time it was dull.

Everyone took Jack's example, no not the monkey, the pirate, they all walked with him to the pier where the _Black Pearl_ was stationed at. Tia would accompany them again, this being her second time on the _Black Pearl_. She explained to Sora that she could help find the lock since she had a general idea of what it looked like, and that he had the key that could unlock it, thus obliterating the Heartless from the isle.

"Pray tell Barbossa, how did you know there were Heartless on the isle?" Sparrow asked once they were on board the ship.

"I used _my_ ship of course…" Barbossa answered the man.

"_You're_ ship?" Sparrow asked curiously. "It better not have been _mine_…"

"The _Black Pearl_ doesn't belong to you, Sparrow…"

"Oh brother…" Goofy and Donald said in unison hearing Sparrow and Barbossa bicker like children.

"Don't be starting this again you two…" Tia warned them.

**R i k u **

'_They're everywhere!_' I thought to myself as I pulled out my Keyblade for the, who-the-hell-knows-how-many times. It was really starting to get on my nerves. I brought my weapon down on one of the Heartless. It disappeared from my view, and noticed that three more took its place.

The only thing that processed in my mind were Pureblood Heartless, they were far stronger than the artificial Heartless, which meant that something stronger was controlling, probably that thing that escaped deeper into the abandoned island.

"Sora!" my mind snapped back into reality as I saw Sora disappear from my sight.

This place was dark as night, but I could faintly see within the shadows, but not as much as I once did. I could hear Kairi, she was pretty close by, and Tia was reciting an incantation for our health, or whatever she was trying to chant out, somehow it gave me some relief in my heart.

"Right here!" Sora said. I heard something collided with his Keyblade. "We need some light!" Donald was firing his Fira spells and Goofy was trying his best not to throw his weapon across the room.

I felt the breath of a Heartless by my arm, and I froze, it stopped breathing and I moved back a bit. Kairi yelled out a Fire spell and the area was lit for a small moment in time as the ball of fire collided with a thick body of Pureblood Heartless.

Jack Sparrow and Barbossa seemed like they had no problem fighting against them, but there some points where the two of them got to cocky. I felt something going for my leg, and I jumped back, it was really starting to get annoying all right, and I was having enough of it all.

"Get. Away!" I yelled in-between slashes from my weapon, the Heartless were listening, as more of its comrades were starting to fall down. Pureblood Heartless listen to those who are stronger, but I think that's only with other Heartless, but they do fear the Keyblade, so I guess that makes sense.

Something dug its claws onto my back, and an icy cold sensation swept down my back as I felt as though the claws were freezing. I reached behind furiously and flung the thing down onto to ground. It hissed, and it came back up again, I think, I heard something flap so it probably had wings.

I heard Goofy smack something close by me, and I think it was that Heartless, and Donald performed another Fira spell, and I thanked both of them.

"I see an opening, let's go!" Jack called out. I could hear him close by.

At last after finally kicking a couple of Heartless to the side, I could see the light at the end of the area. Tia was ahead of us, she had no problem finding her way through the dark, and she let her sixth sense lead the way. We all were out of breath, panting a bit trying to get our muscles to relax once more. Everyone still had their weapons out just in case they decided to ambush us.

"I hope that's all of them…" Kairi said panting more than the rest of us. Her magic was beginning to take its toll.

That girl Amaterasu, the one with the wicked Keyblade, she was right, Kairi did lack in offense and magic would end up being a double-edged sword for her. Tia recited Healing Wind, and or health came back. I was feeling woozy from when that Heartless dug its claws into me, the pain was going away, but I felt that blood was still soaking through my shirt.

Donald carried some of those strength enhancers and gave some to Kairi, because she really needed it, and Goofy gave me some of the defense enhancers.

"Are you okay?" Sora asked, his blue eyes holding his emotion of concern in them. I nodded to him and he still didn't believe me. "Are you sure? You're still bleeding…"

"At least it's not that serious anymore…" I said smiling a bit, leaning against my Keyblade for support. "I'm just a bit tired…"

"We all are…" Sparrow said as Tia checked Sparrow's arm for a moment. She frowned and Sparrow laughed a bit as she placed her hand on his arm, and with a gentle blue glow the flesh that was cut on his arm started to rapidly close back together.

"What's your compass say, Jack?" Barbossa said as Jack pulled out his second prized possession.

"Hold on…" he handed it to Tia and the voodoo priestess pointed to what she believed was north. "It says, that way…" Jack Sparrow pointed to whatever direction that compass pointed.

"Are you sure that's the right way?" Donald asked trying to catch up with Jack.

"It's never failed me once…" Jack said feeling confident.

"Tia, you know where it is?" Goofy asked looking at the voodoo priestess, and she nodded. Somehow Goofy felt that the compass was right.

We followed the bewitched compass, the further we went into the area the narrower the path became, and we all ended up squeezing together, I unfortunately got stuck, more like sandwiched in-between Tia and Jack Sparrow, I know any other female would've loved to be in my position, well sort of anyway.

"Riku, I'll traded places with you next time, savvy?" Jack said, and yet I wish he could understand the meaning of personal hygiene.

**Deeper in the area… **

"This thing is huge!" the younger sibling cried out. A messy of spiky orange hair was visible from the sibling as he ran down the opposite path of the area. He was wearing baggy shorts and a light blue shirt.

"Ammi is fighting that thing!" the other twin called out. Both Moegami and Kazegami had laid their eyes to the battle that was still ensuing with their young sister and the gargantuan Heartless.

Yomigami was the first to make a mad dash to the area. Of course since this was an island all there was, was in fact, sand, and the Shadow Hound known as Chico picked up the scent of his owner's sibling within a second.

The others went behind their big brother, with their own Keyblades, ready to lend a hand to their sibling if she did in fact need it. '_Please, I'm praying don't let her die…_' Yomigami prayed in his mind over and over again as he ran down the area, finally seeing the shore.

He could see that there was a Heartless that was roughly the size of a Behemoth, or rather probably close to one of the Pureblood Heartless called Darkside, that was the first Heartless to touch the ground of Destiny Islands, and the others worlds that were first touched by the evil darkness.

Amaterasu pulled out her second Keyblade, to block the enormous fist of the Heartless, and a small crater formed in the sand as the impact was very strong. She was breaking a sweat yet, but the Heartless was very persistent.

Yomigami was going to jump in when Tachigami pulled her male twin back. She shook her head, and at that point Yomigami would've just cussed her out because he felt helpless watching his sister fight that Heartless.

"But…I…" Yomigami tried to pull his arm away from his twin.

Amaterasu did a two step move she had learned when she was younger, and it kept the Heartless confused for a moment. She took the chance to run up its arm and she raced frantically and with her wicked looking Keyblade struck the enemy dead on, but as it was falling backward, it managed to grab her with his other hand.

She cried out as she could feel her bones slowly crack as the Heartless finally landed with a thud on the ground. She was trying to wriggle out, just so that she could just escape with a broken shoulder, but it wasn't working.

This Heartless' name was called 'Deadly Detonation' due to the fact that once it was destroyed that the victor had about 30 seconds to escape from the area, since it would most likely explode.

To everyone's surprise however the Heartless stood up, still holding the girl in its grasp. The wicked Keyblade was pined in-between the eyes and it picked it off with some ease. Yomigami couldn't stand it anymore and he rushed forward, pulling out his own Keyblade. He watched his sister Keyblade fall to the floor, and her strength was running out from the pain, since she didn't call it back to her.

Amaterasu turned her head slightly in pain as she heard her name being called out. Yomigami, Tachigami, and the others were speeding up with their weapons. Multiple Firaga spells were targeted on the hand that held their sister.

With that Amaterasu was free of the grasp, but she felt that she could no longer respire that well, feeling woozy from moving so much, and as she made her decent to the sand her eyes caught one small glimpse of silver hair.

'_So close… Yet so far away, Riku please don't be angry with me…_' she thought to herself before she ended up in her big brother's arms. Sora and the others had arrived to the area, hearing Amaterasu cry out in pain.

'_What the?! They're here?!_' it was the same thing Riku and Kairi were thinking when they say the familiar boy and girl. Sora's group advanced forward and noticed that one of the other group's members was down. There was a pain in Riku's shoulder and he twitched slightly groaning for a moment.

Riku rushed forward with his Keyblade the Road to Dawn and Sora with his version of Oblivion. Kairi ran forward with her own Keyblade, while Donald went with his Save the Queen staff and Goofy with his Save the King shield.

Barbossa and Jack stayed behind for a moment playing rock, paper, and scissors to determine who would still the glory of running down first. The voodoo priestess beat the two pirates to it, preparing another incantation.

Tia noticed that the fallen girl was the sun goddess, Amaterasu, and her children, the children were in fact the siblings, though the names of the children stemmed back from ancient folklore. '_She'll wake up in a few moments if it is in fact the same girl from decades ago…_' Tia thought as she drew up a complicated symbol in the sand.

"It's Sun Goddess!" Jack said brandishing his weapon.

"Her?!" Riku and Kairi asked looking back at the captain.

The Heartless became enraged having more people gang up on it, and the siblings were more than happy to fight along side them, but with what Riku and Kairi had told the others, the siblings had made enemies pretty fast.

"Riku…!" Sora cried out the Heartless was bringing its arm around, and Riku was in his path. Donald would've tried to caste Stop spell but it would've been too late. The abandoned Keyblade that was on the ground no longer was underneath the Heartless' feet.

At that moment Riku braced himself just hoping that he could face the pain quickly, but he felt something in front of him, and the girl sighed in relief, looking back a moment to face Riku. She smiled slightly, and pushed back the Heartless' arm, keeping it away from Riku at any cost.

"What are…?" Riku felt the pain come back into his heart, and it was beating slowly, as if it was trying to be in synch with something.

"You can thank me later…" she said jumping onto the Heartless' arm and continued what she had started.

He noticed the older brother and he mimicked the same action as his sister, both of them were tag-teaming the Heartless, and Sora wanted to do the same. Jack and Barbossa took the rear while Donald and Goofy covered Kairi; since her offense left her open now. The siblings took turns casting spells at the Heartless feet, to get it to fall faster.

Donald threw his staff as it was burning with flames, blocking a n attack that was coming towards Sora, and Goofy threw his shield to parry alongside it.

Riku tossed Sora into the air, and Amaterasu was within reach to pull him along and she did, throwing him straight ahead towards the Heartless' head, and Sora braced himself as he could feel his blade push through the dark massed creature.

'_Down for the count…_' Amaterasu thought as her brother sliced through its left arm. She looked back and noticed the voodoo priestess, a feeling of nostalgia swept through her mind as she gently landed on the ground.

Tia Dalma muttered a silent prayer and the Heartless was enveloped in a black mist, to keep it from exploding, it simply started to fade away like the other Pureblood Heartless would.

Amaterasu sighed, and looked back at Riku feeling a sense of joy knowing that she had saved him, but she knew Riku was thinking the complete opposite. She didn't blame him, if she had been in his shoes she probably would've been thinking the same thing.

**A m a t e r a s u **

'_Riku, I'm so glad I could protect you, but you're getting slow! Geez, I'm not going to be saving your behind 24/7, and neither can your friends, you seriously would've gotten a concussion or something…I'm glad you're doing all right though…_' I thought looking at the turquoise eyed teen. I had missed the sight of silver hair for quite some time.

"Sun Goddess!" I turned around looking at Captain Jack Sparrow. The last time I paid a visit to this world I was probably about 15, that was about two decades ago. I, like Tia Dalma, don't age that fast, thanks to something that happened a long time ago.

He'd grown up so much, but I can see why Tia treats him like a child still, he still does act like a child at some points. Captain Barbossa, he joined Sparrow's crew as first mate while he had run way from home.

I noticed the look on Goofy's face, and if he'd recognized my Keyblade, and my appearance then this meeting would turn rather sour and confusing. Lucky I just heard him say I looked awfully familiar and I sighed in relief. I have a though that something else was going to come since the other Chasers probably would've caught scent of this whole fight.

The Pureblood Heartless was strong, which was my own fault for trying to collect the darkness that was stored in the heart of this world. The energy, I can't forget holding that in my hands just thinking about all the memories it held within it.

Jack Sparrow had caught sight of me and Heartless seeped out from the shadows to protect the ball of darkness, I was in charge of them, but they quickly turned on me when a previous chaser member found me.

"Well, well, well…" my heart began to race. '_That voice… I know that voice…_' I thought to myself withdrawing both of my Keyblades. "Come on now little one, you won't look at me right away?"

"Get away from here, Lucifer!" Tachigami called out summoning her Keyblade. It was a black and green coated blade. It looked like an abstract version of Kingdom Key. "You have no right being here!"

Lucifer Soble, a low ranking Chaser but since we lost our position he's higher than us, but only because of the system. He wore a black shirt with matching black pants, and apparently he had taken off his soldier armor, since he had his black coat on top of his clothing. Along his pants were noticeable red seams and black boots, he had short blonde hair with an earring on his left ear.

"Last time I check Tachigami… _You_ no longer have any business here, or anywhere else for that matter, you're all banished, remember?!" he said pulling out a black and white Keyblade. "I'm giving you guys three seconds…"

"Go fu-" I wanted to yell it out to him, but Yomigami placed his hand over my mouth.

"One…"

"Get lost Lucifer, go running to Gabriel…" Moegami said holding his Keyblade ready.

"Two…" Lucifer said starting to lose his patience with the younger sibling.

"Would someone care to explain as to what is going on?!" it was none other than Jack as he fired his pistol to grab our attention for the moment.

That was by far the worse thing someone could ever do to Lucifer, make him explain himself, we would rather die by his Keyblade then hear him go on and on and on, he loved to talk, and maybe Jack could be the fellow we need to distract Lucifer while we roshambow him in the nuts or something, it's a pretty fun game, well my brothers like playing that anway…

Only the deity's know what kind of person decided that kicking a guy in his sack was a fun way to entertain themselves that they made a game out of it. I'd _really _love to meet the fellow who invented this.

"They're ex-Chasers, and I'm a Chaser…" Lucifer said trying to explain it to Jack and the others. "It's a hard concept…"

"I bet it is lad…" Jack said making simple gesture that got Lucifer upset.

"I'm not crazy!" Lucifer said pointing his blade close to Jack's neck.

"I beg to differ!" I shouted out finally letting Yomigami to let me go. "What the hell are you doing here? You don't like this place…" I said standing up to face him.

"You finally decide to speak, little experiment…" Lucifer said I could feel his gloved hand gently touch my cheek. "Heh, you still haven't changed a bit…" I felt his hand squish my cheeks together. "Little, little girl…"

"Go fush yoshelf…" I said trying to make the words audible to him.

"Let go of the lass…" I heard Jack's pistol click, it was aimed for the back of Lucifer's head.

I pulled away from Lucifer, and brought one Keyblade close to the middle of his eyes, and he gulped slightly, he wasn't much of fighter, he was just all talk. I how I resisted roshambowing him, it was very tempting, and how I wanted him to fall, so I could put him out of his misery, but I can't, which is horrible to my whole being…

"I won't fight you today…" Lucifer said reappearing behind me as I felt his arms around my neck. "Aw, reminds me of the good old days…"

"Yeah well fucking creep, keep your hands off of my sister!" Gekigami said bring Lucifer down with a kick to the back. "That's sick you freak!" Geki yelled at him, this time he was mad, which probably was a bad thing for Lucifer

Lucifer coughed up some sand, and the others, meaning Sora and the gang just stared feeling confused about the whole thing, well Tia the voodoo priestess knew what was going on.

Lucifer got up and faced me with his weapon, and I pulled out my other blade, slashing one side down and the other to the side. Lucifer blocked them, but he barely had anytime. '_Come on Riku, if you can hear this from your heart, help me out…_' I wanted him to hear what my heart wanted to badly, but maybe I was asking too much already. At that point Riku stepped forward with the familiar looking Keyblade.

"I'm going to be the one that gets her, not _you_ Lucifer…" Riku said standing next to me with his weapon drawn.

"Don't go killing the lass just yet… I want to see her fight once more…" Jack said hoping to get another glimpse of my fighting skills he did like watching me fight as a kid. And from what Tia told me earlier before he fancied someone who could fight almost as well, her name was Elizabeth, so I guess he just liked me for my sword work, and because I remind him of Elizabeth when it came to fighting, oh the _joy_, well not really but you get the point…

Sora stood next to Riku, he probably thought that he owed us since I saved Riku for that small moment in time, which is a good thing, because Lucifer is horrible against 3-on-1 battles.

**You know what to do, 1 review.**


	10. Innocente

**A/N: Thanks **Princess Kaira of Mirana **I really appreciate your reviews! **

**Thanks to all the readers too, I'm getting a lot of hits on this thing! **

Innocente** is a song from Delerium which was the inspiration to this whole chapter. **

**_"I suppose it's the price of falling in love, I fear it's the price of falling in love." _**

**On with the story! **

**Chapter Ten: Innocente **

This battle ended very quickly, since Lucifer couldn't even manage to keep up with one person, let alone three of them. Lucifer dodged one coming attack, while Riku and Sora took the chance one attacking coming from the air, and one from the ground.

The Chaser fell backwards, and Amaterasu dashed forward, seeming as though she levitated due to the speed. Her elbow collided with Lucifer's back, and he cried out in pain, it did hurt as bad as it appeared. If there was one person the girl with the name of the sun goddess didn't like, at that point it was Lucifer.

_"Hey, what's the deal?" he called out to her. _

_Amaterasu was 15 years old at that point, and she stuck her tongue out at him. She replied saying that this was not his concern, and well it apparently ticked off the blond Chaser. _

_"Neo's our subject, not a friend!" he called out trying to reach the young Chaser. "Hey, you can't go messing up our plans, we've worked to hard for this! Amaterasu!" _

_Neo, that was his nickname the Chasers had given him, and it seemed to fit a bit, but Amaterasu started to grow a conscious during the whole procedure, and it was starting to hinder the plans the Chasers, including the ones she herself had worked to hard for. _

_If anything, the heart was to blame for the young Amaterasu's action. It was something she wished she could never feel, and that was love for a friend. She had grown attached to the subject, like as if he were a family member, but that wasn't seen all too well in the eyes of the Chasers. _

_"I know that…!" she called out looking at Lucifer. _

_"Then throw your heart away, stop making it worse!" _

"You still mad because of what I said…?" Lucifer asked, tasting the sand once again.

Lucifer had placed a barrier that kept anything in it, trapped, and anything outside had no way to penetrate it. The barrier would break down once the battle was over, which meant either he won, or he paid with his life. Lucifer knew that somewhere in his own heart he was going to pay it with his life, either even if he won, he'd die at the hands of others, or simply he was defeated which meant he paid with his price.

"I can't kill you…" the girl with the ironic name said, holding her Keyblade mere inches away from his throat. Both Riku and Sora were taken aback by her actions, believing her to be some kind of cold killer, but obviously they thought wrong.

"Thinking with your heart was what got you into trouble… Remember?" Lucifer said unable to move his body, Sora had injured his right leg, while Riku, with his attack, dislocated his left shoulder.

"If you don't finish me now Gabriel will… I don't want to die by his hands…" Lucifer said.

Riku looked back at Sora, his own heart was telling him, in one way or another, the same thing Amaterasu's heart was telling her. '_It'd be better if he was destroyed right now, than prolong it… But, it doesn't feel right…_' Riku thought to himself, feeling Amaterasu's pleading eyes on him.

"Sora…" she spoke out to the young Keyblade wielder. "Can you open the lock in his heart?" she asked him, no, rather she pleaded with him.

"Open, his heart?" Sora asked flabbergasted.

"Release it…" she said, still pinning Lucifer down on the ground.

"Why-" Sora held his tongue as he noticed that Amaterasu just sighed in little annoyance.

"It'll be better to do it like that, than actually kill him…" she said as Lucifer closed his eyes for a moment. "He's gone through to much already…"

"You always did have pity on all of us… Mother…" Lucifer said.

In folklore Amaterasu was considered to be the sun goddess, and mother of all since she provided warmth and light, it was something motherly.

"Just do it, kid!" Lucifer was practically begging him. "I can't stand being in this kind of pain, heck I'd rather die than go back with my ass handed to me!" pride was speaking for him, in truth he wanted to die to preserve his pride, it was something that not even Amaterasu could understand, for she had no pride at all.

Sora walked forward, and everyone was watching from behind the barrier. He pulled out Kingdom Key and placed the blade over Lucifer's beating heart. Sora closed his eyes and the tip of his weapon was beginning to emit a white cleansing light, it was the first time Sora ever unlocked a person's heart.

The soon to be defeated Chaser closed his eyes welcoming the light, and Amaterasu looked away. A piece of her heart felt like it was crumbling, she had harbored some dislike to the blond man, but she saw as to why he did the things he had to do.

'_You didn't want me to get hurt, but I did anyway no matter how careful I had been that day. You were a big brother to me when I couldn't find Yomigami…_' for a moment she could feel tears swell up around her eyes.

"Ammi…" Lucifer said smiling warmly as the light pierced his heart. "Don't cry, it's better this way… The light's warm, just like the sun…" those were his last words when the light dissolved away from the Keyblade. His whole body began to glow, unable to take the gigantic amount that coursed through his body.

Riku watched as the Chasers body began to break away into little white orbs. For a moment he could see butterfly wings on the orbs as the fluttered about. He looked at Amaterasu as she outstretched her hand to an orb that hovered near her.

For a moment Riku thought back to a point in time when his mother hand done the same hand movement. When Riku came back to reality he could see it now. '_She treats them like her children… Even if she is the youngest, she cares for them on a high emotional level, no matter of what happened in the past… I wonder if the real Amaterasu would do that…?_' he looked at Amaterasu, and noticed she gave a sad smile when the little orb flew away.

The barrier came crashing down, like a howling wind. Riku could hear his name being called out and he turned around. Sora was standing near Amaterasu, and somehow he felt sympathy for her.

"You have a heart?" Sora asked her in a gentle whisper.

"I'm human… all Chasers' have hearts, because we're human." She said looking at Sora, as his eyes grew wide in realization.

He had defeated another person, one with a real heart, it wasn't a Heartless or a Nobody, but a human, one with a heart. How her phrase shattered his heart, and that's when he felt tears of anger fill his eyes.

A human life was taken, and nothing was gained except one less member in the Chasers. Crying wouldn't bring back that human life, but Sora wanted to cry.

From the shock his heart felt, he wanted to puke, knowing he took someone's life away so quickly. Had it been a Nobody or a Heartless it probably would've been different, but this was a human.

"You knew I would do it, wouldn't you?" he asked her angrily as he fell on his knees, the sand started to kick up with the wind around the area. "Why did you tell me he was human?!"

The others turned around and looked at Sora and the ex-Chaser. Amaterasu knelt down to face Sora, who was no crying a bit. She wanted to cry with him, knowing what she had done to the poor boy, it was something no one wanted to experience, the fact that you took a human life away.

"Cry all you want, Sora…" she said stroking his spiky brown hair. "It's okay…"

"But why? Answer me…" he said begging her.

"He wanted it…" she said looking back at the others, they were coming forward. "I know you're mad at me, I mean I would be too if I was in your shoes…" she said hoping to give the boy some peace of mind. "Go ahead and loathe me if you want, you have every right too…"

"Crying won't bring that guy back… You were his friend weren't you?" Sora asked her, looking at her through his teary eyes.

"I was…" she said recalling a happier time she shared with Lucifer. "But that's in the past for right now… He would've been happier this way."

"How would you know?"

"Would your mother want you to die a painful death, or just fall into the warmth of the light?"

**R I K U **

I can still look back on that day as if it were just yesterday, but that was one month ago. Sora still had some doubts about something, but he still did what he believed was right. We ran into another Chaser, she called herself Lene. She was defeated by Kairi and myself, while Sora was fighting off a Heartless that was in the area.

Donald and Goofy had left since the King had sent an urgent letter. Sora told Donald and Goofy that the King needed them and that he had to be protected.

'Riku, how have you been? I hope you're not hurt or anything… I don't know how to say this but, as I'm typing this out the Heartless have been conquering numerous worlds, and I know you're aware of that. I'm in Traverse Town… They took Destiny Islands a month ago… At least now it'll take a day for our txt mssg to get across…'

That was all that **her** text message said, and my heart sank a bit. There was no joy, I couldn't feel it in any of the words **she** had sent out, and I wanted to go to **her**, but I can't, not right now…

"Riku, just go…" Sora said. "I'll be fine, besides we unlocked the light from Port Royal and from the Pride Lands. We have a little vacation time, so why not just go?"

"Are you sure?" I asked him, he hadn't been his cheerful usual self since we came back from Port Royal. I asked him why, but he didn't answer, I'm not sure even Kairi knew.

"You need to see her. She's missed you, no doubt…" Sora said grinning slightly. "Tell her I said hi, okay?"

"Yeah…" I said patting Sora on the shoulder as I got up from my chair.

That's how I ended up here in Traverse Town now, it was still the same as always, it got really dark at night, just like it was two years ago. More people inhabited this world, seeing as how the Darkness was still being its unrest-less self. Since we were both in the same area I decided to text **her**.

'I'm in the Third District, by the fountain…'

I sat down by the fountain; it was the only place that people rarely went to, the Third District. There weren't any homes, just an abandoned house and a fountain, with a door, that once had a magician living on the other side of it. I heard the door open from the First District area, but to my disappointment it wasn't **her**.

People were coming and going through the area, and of course it was a Saturday. As **she** had once said Saturdays were for couples, I still remember that day. I smiled slightly to myself not really caring if people thought I was crazy.

I popped in the headphones from **her** mp3 player. I still carried it with me. I promised **her** that I would give it back to **her**.

My cell moved as it received a message from someone. I jumped slightly and picked it up, scanning trough the messages.

'Riku, hey I've been standing over here for a couple of minutes, look up…'

I looked up and noticed someone waving, it was **her**. My heart was beating pretty fast, and the pain in my heart came back again, I thought it had left me. It was hurting just as bad as when I first met that Amaterasu girl…

"Riku!" Selma said happily hugging me with all her might. She kissed my cheek and hugged me again. I couldn't breathe as she continued to hug me so hard. "Sorry!" she said apologizing as I almost fell backwards from the lack of oxygen.

"I…Missed you," it was the only thing I could tell her before I held her tight.

**Current Scene **

Riku held on tight to her burying his head in her chest, just like a scared child would. For now, she would be called Selma, just for his sake and only his. Selma sighed happily, embracing him.

'_This is real…_' she thought to herself closing her eyes as she placed her chin gently on his head. '_I'm glad it's real…_' What seemed like ages, they finally parted from their hug. Riku noticed that Selma had some tears in her eyes, but she quickly rubbed them off.

"How… How have you been?" she asked shyly, just like the first time they met.

"I've been all right," the boy with silver hair said. He stood up, stretching his legs for a moment. Selma sat down by the edge of the fountain looking at the young boy for a moment smiling.

It did pain her to tell him her real name, but it was probably the best thing she could do for now. If she did tell him her real name it would pain him badly, causing his heart to shatter the same way it had happened to Sora.

She didn't dwell on that for right now, what she cared most about was seeing Riku, and that's why she came to the Third District. Riku smiled slightly and outstretched his hand to her. It brought back a good memory when Selma had been living on the island.

"How's mom?" Riku asked walking hand in hand with her.

"She's fine…" Selma said remembering Riku's mother. She was living in one of the nearby hotels. "She's misses you…"

"Same here…" Riku said as the two of them walked to the Second District. He pulled out her little mp3 player and felt proud of himself. "I've been keeping it safe, like I promised." She in turn closed his palm, telling him to keep it a bit longer.

Selma's eyes lit up slightly as she felt a sigh of relief come over her knowing the familiar item was safe. She gave him a big smile, and Riku felt his cheeks get a bit red. He loved watching her smile like that, it made his heart calm down a bit.

"I've been keeping my promise too," she said taking his hand and pointing to where his mother was at. "Your mother and I have been sharing a room in that hotel." It was close to an area where hats and shoes were sold. "She's out though, visiting one of the neighbors that came with us."

Everything was silent to them as they walked around just enjoying each other's company. Riku wanted to hold her longer, just like that day he told her that he was leaving, but he didn't want to ruin anything.

Time and distance had somehow formed a gap in-between each other, and it was hurting both of them emotionally. '_She needs me…_' Riku thought looking at her, she was talking about a good area where they could eat. '_And I need her… But I can't take her away from her family. It's selfish of me, but I need her…_'

"Riku…" Selma tried to snap her friend out of his daze.

Riku blinked slightly as Selma placed a hand on his forehead. He felt embarrassed for dozing off like that and he apologized.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked sitting him down on a bench. "How come Sora and Kairi aren't with you?"

"Sora's spending some time with Kairi, so…" he said smiling. "You get the idea…"

"Those two make a good couple…" she said breathing in the crisp night air. "Are you hungry? I know a good place that sells some awesome coffee-cake, and…" she started to ramble on again.

Riku let her grab his hand, and she led the way this time. They went deeper into the First District area and Selma found the area she was looking for and hurried Riku along. The silver haired teen smiled and followed her the whole way, not once protesting.

"Here…" he offered to pull out a chair. Selma decided it was better to sit outside the coffee shop.

**K a i r i **

"Sora, how are you feeling?" I asked looking at him feeling a bit worried.He sat up and gave me his trademark smile, but I knew he was still feeling a bit of regret. I told him it wasn't his fault, but I don't know if he's listening or not.

"I'm feeling better…" he said sating next to me this time. When he said that, I could feel that somehow I knew he was telling the truth this time.

"I'm glad Riku went to go visit her…" I told Sora watching him rest his head on my shoulder. "He deserves to have a good time."

"We all do…" Sora said pinching my cheek slightly. He kissed my cheek softly, it was still something that could make me blush madly.

"It's not your fault Sora…" I told him holding his hand, he had taken off his outfit and wore some tan shorts and a white shirt.

"It still feels like it…" he said squeezing my hand for a moment. "But I know it's not… But I can't help it… I mean I…" I sighed quietly and placed a hand on his mouth. I shook my head slightly and he relaxed his jaw.

"It's still bugging you, what she asked you?"

"Just a little bit…" he said looking back at me. His eyes were mixed with confusion and sadness. I kissed him slightly on the cheek, and he smiled for a moment. "Let's go walk around, maybe that'll help…"

I stood up, but before I could even sigh I felt something lightly brush against my lips. I could feel my face grow hot with embarrassment. Sora's eyes looked back at me, he was smiling, letting his worry slip away.

"Sora…" I managed to whisper out. I could feel my voice crack with awkwardness.

I could hear him laugh, and he shook his head. He grabbed my hand and led me outside. My first kiss, it was something so gentle, and I didn't even see it coming…

**R i k u **

I watched her talk on a bit more before she sipped her cup of coffee. She was addicted to coffee, from what I remember that she told, her mother had once given her 'café con leche' which was milk and coffee in English. From then on she fell in love with the caffeinated liquid.

I bit into the coffee-cake she bought, and she frowned slightly as I took the chance to bite it in front of her. She got me back by sipping the contents from my milkshake, and I pouted at her slightly.

"Since when do you pout?" she asked, and for some reason her tone of voice reminded me of something a mother would say to her child.

"…Uh…" it was hard trying to answer her that question. Instead I stuffed my mouth with my milkshake.

"You know, I hope one day I find someone…" at that point I started to listen attentively. "I mean…" she was embarrassed to go on now. "Take Sora and Kairi for example, I want to be able to find someone like that…"

'_I wonder how Sora and Kairi are doing…_' I thought to myself before looking back at Selma. She sipped her coffee again and sighed slightly. It was around 11 o'clock at night now, but you couldn't tell because the night got dark around 5 o'clock.

"What about you Riku, you think you'll find someone like that?" and at that point I couldn't help but spit out the last drop of my milkshake.

**A m a t e r a s u **

I watched Riku spit out his milkshake a bit when I asked him, apparently I embarrassed him, but why? He cleared his throat and sighed for a moment.

"Well… do you?" I asked.

"Yeah…" he nodded, almost afraid to answer now.

"That's good…" I said smiling at him.

"What about you?" he asked taking another piece of _my_ coffee cake. "You think you'll find one like that?"

"Of course…" I said slapping his hand slightly as he tried to take another piece of the pastry.

"Just a matter of waiting, that's all…"

I wanted to pour my whole heart to him, just tell him everything, who I was, what I was. It would've made me feel so much better. What was the point in having a friend like this, if I couldn't tell him my secret?

I suppose I don't want to make a bigger gap, so I won't do anything. Still with time and distance, there was already a gap there, and I'd just make it worse if I confessed everything.

" Selma…"

I sighed for a moment and felt Riku tug on my hand a bit. I looked up and noticed that he was standing up already. He asked me if I was all right, and I nodded. '_I don't want to shatter your heart Riku, because I know you wouldn't do that to me,_' I thought to myself, letting Riku pull me up.

"Come on…" he was taking me back to the Second District.

There were lanterns and festival items around this time of night. A carnival of some sort was going to be held here, but I just didn't know when. I know that my brothers and sister would like it, and Riku's mom. I wish at some points Mom was here to see stuff like that, but she's in a better place having more fun than I could possibly ever imagine.

"They say the carnival's coming next week," Riku said bringing me back to reality.

"Really?" I asked, feeling a bit dazed now. "Riku…" my heart was beginning to race. "There's something I need to tell you…"

**Current scene… **

Amaterasu felt something caught in her throat, but she shook it off and tried to finish what she started, but it was no use.

"Never mind…" she said sighing in defeat, she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Hey, Selma?" Riku asked her something. "Have you ever heard of the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu?"

"Yeah…" she said feeling a smile creep up on her. "Why?"

How she wished to give him her real name, and yet he didn't know he had said her true name. Once again there was a pain in her heart. She could feel her heart wept as she kept the truth from him.

"There's an ex-Chaser by that name…"

"Really?" she asked. "Is she pretty?"

"…" Riku didn't really now how to answer it. "She looks a bit like you…" he said, rubbing the back of his head. "But she's… I don't know I don't feel like she's good or she's bad…"

It was then and there Riku told her everything that had happened up to this point in time. He spoke of Amaterasu and how she had fought with Kairi. He spoke of his adventure to the Pride Lands, and turning into a lion cub. He spoke of going to Isla Cruces, and getting sandwiched in-between a voodoo priestess and a pirate that didn't have a general understanding of personal hygiene.

He told her about how Lucifer had appeared, and what Sora had to do to get rid of him. He noticed that she looked down when he spoke about Amaterasu, somehow in his heart he had a feeling something was going on.

" Selma…?" he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"That's not my name…" she whispered. Her eyes began to produce tears. "I… My name… It's…" the tears finally began to come down. "My… name it's… Amaterasu…"

**A m a t e r a s u **

What was I thinking right then and there, well absolutely nothing. My mind went blank and I didn't know what to say or how to say it, but as I did say it, my heart started a twist around a bit, and I knew that was why I started to cry.

I know how Riku feels now, because I'm ashamed of myself as well, I didn't want him to ever know about who I really was, but… I wish I told him sooner.

"If you want, go ahead and finish me off…" I said forcing his Keyblade to appear over head. "I don't blame you if you're mad…"

" Selma…" he was still in shock, or he was upset, it was probably both.

"Don't call me that…" I said feeling angry at myself.

"How… but why…?"

"I understand if you don't want to see, maybe it's better this way…" I looked away from him, and his Keyblade fell with a heavy thud.

"Are you insane?!" he raised his voice at me for a moment. "What is the matter with you…?"

"That's just it!" I yelled at him, feeling more tears stream down my face. "I can't sleep well at night knowing that I'm lying to you! Or when I'd see you, I knew I couldn't run up to hug you, or tell you hi or anything like that. I've had to watch you in the shadows…"

"I've been risking my ass trying to protect you… only to find out we're cleaning up the messes you make…" he said trying to calm himself down. "You…!"

"This is why I didn't want to tell you…" I said breaking down now. "I was wrong to tell you, I thought you were my friend, I though that we could tell each other something without judging the other… I guess I was wrong…"

There was another jab in my heart, and I placed a hand over it, it was starting to annoy me more and more. Riku's expression was that of hurt, but still he didn't walk away from me, but he stayed and talked, I'm really surprised, then again he is my friend, but I'm not so sure about that now.

"S… Amaterasu…" he said my real name this time. "I think this little meeting is over…"

"Before you leave, Riku…" I noticed he had withdrawn his Keyblade. "Tell Sora it's not his fault…" but all I felt were his arms wrapped around me, and I could hear him crying. He was mad at me, but he still hugged me, and I didn't know what to do this time. I cried with him.

"Then come with us…" he wanted me to go, I could tell by the wavering tone in his voice. "Please…"

"I… I can't…" I told him feeling him push me away. "I wish it were that simple Riku, I really do…"

"What's stopping you?"

"The people I love get hurt…" I told him looking away slightly. I wiped the tears from my eyes. "It's because of **them**… I love you guys too much to watch you get hurt…"

"You're hurting us at the same time…" he said, and I felt my eyes widen.

It was true, what I thought was protection was in fact hurting them as well, it protected me and my family, but not my friends, so I had failed right there. He placed his hands on my cheeks, and I could still feel some tears fall. I winced in embarrassment and looked away.

"You're too kind to me Riku…" I told him. "Other people would've left right after I told them…"

"I'm not like other people…" he said trying hard to smile. "I'm still a bit mad at you, but not to the point where I'd leave you crying alone…" he leaned in, and I pushed him away.

"No… Riku, I can't…" I told him placing a finger on his lip. "I can't… It's better if you leave for right now…"

Truth be told as much as I did want his comfort, I couldn't. My heart, as I felt it, was still too fragile, still mending wounds from over thirty years ago. I shook my head slightly and he stopped in his tracks. He did at least respect me, but how I wished I could hold him close.

"Why would I leave you?!" he said grasping his hand in mine.

"Because of what I've done…" I said knowing that he was still angry with me. I could feel it in my heart. "I don't deserve to be your friend… I don't deserve to have a special place in your heart… I wanted this day to be like old times, but it can't because of time and distance! I wanted to be able to laugh a lot today, but the weight of my own sins came to me when I hugged you, when I held your hand…" I knew I was crying again.

"Then let me help you…" he was begging me. "I _want_ to help you…"

**R i k u **

I don't understand what happened, but it feels like I'm in a dream or something. I know who she is, but somehow it hasn't caught up to me yet, but I know it will and when it does, it's not going to be all that wonderful. I want to hold her and tell her everything's going to be all right, but I know she's afraid.

'_Truth be told, I care too much for you,_' I thought to myself as I looked at her.

"Amaterasu…" it seemed really weird coming out from my mouth. I leaned in again, and this time she hugged me. I kissed her cheek softly, it was a bit salty, but I mean she did cry after all.

Just mere seconds away from sharing my first kiss with her, but she stopped me. Again she told me she couldn't, and I felt like I had done something wrong. She's probably doing it to keep me safe, but I want to protect her more than anything right now, that's something that I know I'm sure of right now.

Tonight, I wanted to let her cry, and I would hold her close telling her everything would be all right, and that we could work it out. Yet somehow I knew it wasn't going to be that easy, our friendship would mostly likely end soon, and I was afraid of losing her.

"They'll come after you…" she said whispering into my ear. "I don't want you getting hurt. Lucifer was nothing compared to them…"

"Lucifer couldn't fight…"

"True…" she said. "But if I had been in his shoes I would've rather died that way than die by Gabriel's hands…"

She kissed my cheek, and she let her lips linger on there for a second longer, and I could feel my face start to blush. At least I made her smile. But I had a feeling I wasn't going to be seeing her for a long time.

"Ammi…" I whispered to her, just pushing back some strands of hair away from her face. I kissed her on the forehead and she gave me a sad smile. That was the last time I saw her as she retreated into a dark portal, and for that moment this whole thing caught up to me.

I fell back onto a nearby bench, and I could feel anger and confusion and sadness rage in me. For once the first person I shared a paopu fruit with had left me alone. I know why I didn't get that angry with her, it's because of a thing called love.

"I wish you knew how much I loved you Amaterasu…"

That was it, I did and still do love her, and not a million fights could make me hate her, never… Her and I we're alike. Each one of us has their own reason for doing what they had to do. Her family, it's very important to her, and I'm fighting to protect her, my friends, and also my mother.

**The Clock Tower **

A blond spiky haired man looked at the crying girl and sighed heavily. He just placed a hand on her head and patted her gently as a way of comforting. He looked back down and noticed the silver haired teenager.

"He must care for you a lot…" he said. Amaterasu just stared at the man with the Chocobo like hair, she pouted for a moment.

"Cloud, you have someone who cares so much for you, why don't you just go to her already?"

"Amaterasu, I don't want to hurt her…"

Cloud Strife a man from another world made his way to Traverse Town believing he had no other place to go to, so that was why he did in fact reside here. A young woman by the name of Tifa had been unsuccessful in finding him, since this world had fallen into darkness about a week ago, and Amaterasu and her siblings had found a way to bring this fallen world back.

"But you are, Aerith has been waiting for you for almost a year now, she saw you last year, and you didn't even stay that long! She knows deep in her heart that you can see the light that's guiding you home, why aren't you following it?!"

"I'm trying to protect her… I don't want her to get hurt by my return, what if she doesn't even want to see me anymore?" it was at that point even a mother would scowl their children for thinking like that.

"She planted a paopu tree for your return…" she sighed heavily for a moment taking a mother like role this time. "You said so yourself once… When Radian Garden was getting destroyed, do you remember what you said?" Amaterasu asked wiping her tears away.

"I would never get to see her smile, or get angry, or get mad, or even laugh…"

"She doesn't get to see _you_ laugh, or smile, or cry, or even get angry!" she was obviously losing her temper with him, any mother would when their child didn't listen.

"You know that's not very mother like…"

"If I was your mother, I'd tell you to go and visit her…" she said. "Now go Cloud… Please you know she's waiting for you..."

"I'm not one to say much on this subject..." he said looking back down at the scene below them, "But it'd be nice if you took your advice once in a while..."

**A/N: At least 1 or 2 reviews at the most, but you know I'll still update it even without one.**


	11. Preparations

Princess Kaira of Mirana **I really appreciate your reviews, thank you so much. I'll give you ten imaginary points, I won't know what they do, but um at least you win something by reviewing! Thanks!**

**I'm thanking the readers too, THANK YOU!**

**Chapter Eleven: Preparations **

Cloud looked up from the corroding chapel, staring at the blue skies from Radiant Garden, he had found his way back here, and like last time he ended up falling through the small hole in the roof.

He was still in a daze of some sort, watching the time pass by. No one had come inside, which was a good thing for him, sense he of course didn't want anybody to find him like this. The paopu tree which Aerith had obviously grown had in fact grown to be of standard size, and he had landed on it.

"Amaterasu was right…" he said to himself blowing some strands away from his face.

At that point he decided to slide off the tree, and he looked around the chapel, it was still that same way he remembered it. He made sure not to land on top of Aerith's flowers or else she'd murder him or something.

The aroma of flowers it was something he never grew tired of, and he was glad he didn't.

_"It's me, Amaterasu, Yomigami's sister…" the girl said withdrawing her weapon to the side. _

_"Yomigami's little sister…" he said repeating it slowly to himself. "How did you find me?" _

_"I guess it doesn't matter how I found you, but why I was looking for you in the first place…" she said watching the last Heartless leave this area. _

_She had missed Cloud's sword fighting. Amaterasu sat down on a crumbling pillar, this was the wasteland of Traverse Town, people stopped living here about a couple of years ago. _

_"Aerith asked me to find you… I can't break a promise…" she said noticing Cloud's eyes widen at the mention of her name. "She misses you a lot, boy…" _

'_I miss her too…_' Cloud thought to himself as he walked around the chapel. He would stay here for a while to relax and then he'd be on his way. The SOLDIER yawned for a moment and cleared his throat to fight off a yawn.

_"She doesn't get to see you laugh, or smile, or cry, or even get angry!" she was obviously losing her temper with him, any mother would when their child didn't listen. _

_"You know that's not very mother like…" _

_"If I was your mother, I'd tell you to go and visit her…" she said. "Now go Cloud… Please you know she's waiting for you..." _

_"I'm not one to say much on this subject..." he said looking back down at the scene below them, "But it'd be nice if you took your advice once in a while..." _

"Cloud…" a gentle whisper was heard a bit far away from where he stood. He turned around and met the gaze of two emerald eyes. He moved forward a bit, but the girl had obviously started to run towards him.

She stopped close to his feet, and panted for a moment, giving a big smile. He noticed that she was wearing the same pink dress from last time.

"I came back…" he said.

"You landed on the tree…" she said picking out a leaf from his hair.

"I didn't want to land on the flowers…" he said looking back at the lilies. "I missed you…"

"You have no idea how much I missed you… You didn't so much as even write to me or anything…" she said hugging the blond individual. He knew of course that she was crying, and he held her tight.

Amaterasu watched from overhead, carefully so as not to fall from one of the boards on the old chapel. '_It's really a sweet sight…_' she thought smiling happily. '_It's moments like this that make me feel good to be alive for so long…_' As she gave out a small sigh she heard something from underneath her stomach creak.

"Ah…" she moved herself slowly, still hearing the boards from the roof crack from her weight. "Damn it…" she whispered crawling quickly to the other side of the roof.

_"What are you doing, Ammi?" Gekigami asked as she patted the soil. _

_"Planting a tree…" she said taking the whole ordeal very seriously. _

_"For who?" he asked watching her handy work. _

_"Riku…" she said watching the storm clouds loom over the isle. "He's on this place, so I thought I'd give him a nice little reminder…" _

_"Why don't you just tell him how you feel?" Tachigami said watching her little sister for a moment. _

_"Cuz, Ammi is still under the impression that actions speak louder than words…" Kazegami said smiling at his older sister. _

"What are you doing right now Riku?" she asked herself looking up at the blue sky Cloud was gazing at earlier. "Does the sky look better from your view?"

At that point the roof was starting to give way, and the young girl found herself falling back. She stared at the sky as she started to fall, not once letting her heartbeat race fast. She could hear the wind howl in her ears as she fell, and she, like Cloud, landed on the paopu tree with a heavy thud.

"Ouch…" she said blinking her eyes for a moment. "At least it broke my fall…"

"Amaterasu, what are you doing up there?" Aerith asked calling down from the tree.

"Just thought I'd drop by…" she said lazily getting out from the paopu tree. "But I didn't think fate would let me do that literally…"

Cloud shook his head looking at Amaterasu, he knew why she came. It was to see if he did in fact come back here to Radiant Garden. Amaterasu apologized for ruining their moment, and noticed that the two of them were blushing a bit. They each knew what the young girl was thinking about, as perverted as her mind was, she was still in fact just a kid on the outside.

"Anyway…" she started walking out the chapel. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" she said teasing the two of them.

Aerith noticed a small smile spread across Cloud's lips and she smiled at the peaceful expression placed on his face. She was glad she could see him smile like, because it was a smile only she could see, meant for her eyes only, and just for her.

"I missed watching you smile…" Aerith said walking down the flower patch at times she would look back at the blue eyed SOLDIER.

Cloud had missed everything about her. He missed her voice, her appearance he was glad he decided to follow his heart once again, and maybe this time he'd stay with her.

"How did you find your way back here?" Aerith asked as she patted a small spot for him to sit on.

Cloud walked up and sat on one of the fairly sturdy pews catching a small glimpse of Aerith's green eyes once more. He searched the back of his mind for a while thinking of a good reason as to why he came back. '_Because I couldn't live another day without you? Or maybe because I missed the scent of flowers in your hair? This is harder than I thought…_' the young man thought to himself, he looked down watching the brown sun-faded floor for a moment.

"I came back, because I couldn't live on with my light…" he said giving her his genuine smile.

**Traverse** **Town****… **

"We're going to be staying in Traverse Town for a while, just until we finish getting our supplies and stuff…" Sora said looking at Riku and Kairi. He started to ramble on again. "That and well, since we came all this way I thought we'd pay Selma a visit."

'_I really wish we could…_' Riku thought to himself following Sora and Kairi as he was behind them. The pain in his heart was gone, which meant that the human sun goddess, Amaterasu was gone. '_Human sun goddess…_' he thought to himself. That was a small nickname he had placed for her, even though he knew she wasn't a goddess.

He walked with his two friends and noticed a tree pot with a familiar plant inside of the clay pot. There in one of the pots a paopu sapling was starting to develop. '_I've been seeing these saplings all over the place…_' he up ahead and noticed that Sora and Kairi were about a couple of feet farther from him.

'_Maybe I can talk to her some more when she comes back… If she ever comes back that is…I hope she does…_' the silver haired teen placed the headphones back over to his ears and listened to another playlist on her mp3 player. _Blood +_ it was a somewhat popular show back home, and he was surprised to find all the theme songs in her mp3 player.

**Radiant** **Garden****… **

"Reeve…" Amaterasu was a bit glad to hear the man's voice on the other end of the phone line. "I…uh… Can you meet us down by the café?" she asked, waiting for Reeve's response. "Just come right away…"

Her dark eyes watched her oldest brother as he pulled up a seat next to her.

"Miracle…" Yomigami said sipping the context from a crème colored cup. "You actually called him…" he said laughing a bit as he took another sip of his coffee. Something caught his attention for a moment. "Females… They're really weird, I mean the clothing on some of them is provocative these days."

"If I remember correctly, Neo's older sister us to dress like that, remember?" the youngest sister said hinting at something from the past. She looked her reflection in the crème color liquid, it was hard to make out but she could see it.

"I honestly forgot…" he said rather coldly. "Are you going to look at your reflection, or are you going to drink your coffee?"

"I don't know…" she said feeling tears starting to come down. "I…"

_"Stop staring at me like that, people are going to think I broke up with you or something like that…" a younger Amaterasu said starting at the boy. _

_"Would you ever break up with me?" the younger teen asked. _

_"What?!" she was thrown off guard by the question. "Xeno what makes you think I'd get with you in the first place?" _

_"The blush on your face says something different…" Xeno said sticking out his tongue. "Anyway… Your big brother's here, it's probably time that you start getting ready for your trip…" _

_"I'll come back in a couple of weeks and then I'll tell you all about it, okay?" _

_"Sure…" he said giving her his trademark smile. "Ammi…" he said softly. _

_"Yeah?" she turned around slightly to look at him. _

_"You know I love you, right?" he rubbing the back of his head. _

_"Yeah…" she said, blushing a bit. "I-I… I love you too…" _

_"I guess that means we're together then…" he said laughing a bit. _

_"What, no!" she said shaking her head. "You know what it's over…" _

_"At least know I know you would break up with me…" _

_"Xenoh-!" _

She was brought to reality by her big brother. It pained Yomigami to see his sister get all worked up. It had been three days since she returned from Traverse Town, and when she came back he had noticed Cloud Strife was with her.

Amaterasu had locked herself up in a spare room Reeve Tuesti had in his home. She only spoke to the male members in her family, while Tachigami found out by means of her twin brother.

Amaterasu sighed heavily, just looking at her older brother while forcing a smile to play across her lips. Both of the siblings sipped their coffee, and then they each heard a familiar voice. They both turned around trying to figure out where the noise came from, there were a couple of people walking around the area. A man in a white shirt with formal black pants walked to their table.

"And I _so_ did love your blue suit…" Yomigami said sarcastically.

Reeve gave a good hearty laugh as he pulled another chair to sit next to the two of them. The two siblings just blinked at each other for a moment, they weren't use to seeing Reeve in civilian clothing.

"What's the occasion, Amaterasu?" Reeve asked looking at the young teenager for a moment. "Surely you didn't call me down here to drink coffee with you and your brother?"

"Yes… and no…" Amaterasu said rubbing her eyes slightly. She ordered a cup for Reeve even though he told her not to, she still did.

"Are you paying for me?" he asked her.

"Right now I'm not really in a sarcastic mood…" Amaterasu said slowly drinking her coffee. "Just accept the coffee…"

"I take it this has to do with your little rendezvous from Traverse Town?" Reeve said. At that moment the waiter came out with Reeve's cup of coffee.

"Riku knows…" Yomigami said preparing Reeve's coffee. "He knows her real name… Besides he's a smart boy, he probably figured out that she's a Chaser… or rather was one… Stupid Lucifer was kind enough to give a brief explanation for Jack Sparrow…"

"_Captain_ Jack Sparrow…" the younger one said.

"It's not like he cares what we call him…" Yomigami said handing Reeve his cup of coffee. "That's not the point… Long story short, Riku knows and Ammi's been having a nervous breakdown since she came back…" he said all in one breath.

"It's not a nervous breakdown…" she said responding a bit sourly to her nickname.

"How are you feeling physically?" Reeve asked sipping his caffeinated liquid.

"Okay, I guess…" she said looking up at the blue sky for a moment. "I mean I'm still eating. Besides it's been only three days I'm sure I'll get over it…"

"Why does this remind me of Xeno all over again?"

"It's not like that, Reeve!" she said slamming her hand down on the table. At this point her mother like title went out the window. "I guess I'm just worried or something…" she really couldn't explain everything that was stirring inside of her. "But it's not like that at all… I wanted to ask you, the real reason why I asked you to come over, was to ask you, if you'd be willing to arrange a meeting with King Mickey and the rest of us…? If it's not too much trouble..."

"From what I know the king is busy…" Reeve said placing a serious expression. "We haven't been able to contact the king for about two weeks now, though that's what one can expect when the darkness is starting to grow strong… But I can arrange a meeting with the next best thing, the Keyblade Master."

"Well from what I can tell they'll most likely be in Traverse Town…" she said thinking about it for a moment. "I'll just take everyone over there."

"You'll be in time for the festival over there…" Reeve said thinking about the whole event. "It's marking the second year of light… At least that's what they call it 'Festival of Light.'"

"Don't tell me you're going?" Yomigami asked.

"Probably…" Reeve said smiling slightly. "The HBRC deserves to take a break once in a while."

"We all deserve a break…" Amaterasu said sighing for a moment. "You know who I miss the most?"

"Riku?" Reeve and Yomigami asked in unanimity.

"No…" she said flatly. "Shelke and Vincent…"

**Traverse** **Town****… **

"Mr. Valentine, we should probably start going now…" a young girl roughly around the age of ten spoke to the older man.

Riku paused for a moment and watched the two of them. The taller older man and the young girl, standing side by side one would think they're related somehow, but truth be told they weren't.

"Our gummi ship is all ready repaired, why are you procrastinating our leave?" she asked in rather gentle tone.

"I thought I felt _her_ presence around here…" the man referred to as Mr. Valentine said.

"It was here, but that was days ago, Vincent Valentine." The girl said staring at the man in disbelief for a moment. "She has probably left this world and had simply gone to another one… Don't you think that's true?"

Riku walked on knowing that it was rude and awkward to be eavesdropping especially when you would be caught eavesdropping. Another song popped into his headphones and it brought back a feeling of nostalgia.

'_She was obsessed with this song…_' Riku thought to himself, he looked around and noticed that Sora and Kairi were out of his sight. '_Damn it…_' he thought to himself sitting by one of the nearby benches and pulling out his cell phone.

He dialed Sora's number by memory and waited to Sora's voice on the other line. It took after three rings, and Sora finally picked up.

"Where are you, Riku?"

"In First District…" Riku said looking at the coffee shop, it brought a poignant memory to his heart. "Hold on I have another call…"

"Riku…" it was Amaterasu. "I'm making this brief…" he could hear other voices in the background.

"Are they whistling?" Riku could hear Yomigami's voice. Apparently he was singing a little rhyme.

Amaterasu sighed heavily and Riku could hear Yomigami whine a bit. "I want you to postpone your leave from Traverse Town, we have to talk to Sora…"

"Wait, who's 'we'? Ammi…" Riku could barely speak. "How did you know I was still in Traverse Town?"

"It's the power of the paopu fruit buddy… Ah, 'we' you know who 'we' is, come on Riku, I know you're not dumb, but anyway I'm roaming so I have to go, Riku."

"Roaming…?" somehow Riku fond this a bit comical. "Anway it's nice hearing your voice."

"Same here see you in a couple of days…" and the line was cut.

**R I K U **

See a lot of people would mostly likely start giving me their opinions on the whole matter. Many would be saying, why are you still talking to her if she's causing the problems you're trying to fix? Call me crazy or something, but I know she wants me to stay with her, and I'm going to stay with her till the bitter end of it all.

At least she called me, and I'm glad at least she's not mad at me, I really thought she was after the second day, but the third's the charm.

I yawned for a moment and sighed heavily, I was getting a bit sluggish for some reason, just feeling really lazy, but as least what would keep me going was the fact that she was coming in a couple of days or so. '_Losing your love…_' it was a lyric that popped into my head.

"Losing your love is without sunshine…" I sang to myself remembering the song on Ammi's mp3 player.

Amaterasu… It's a name that I won't be forgetting anytime soon, but I still have an urge to call her ' Selma,' even though I know it's not her real name. It's only been three days since I saw her, and it feels like it was only yesterday.

It might as well have been yesterday the wound in my heart is still fresh, but I'm not letting that affect me. Still I have feeling that our friendship has somehow created a bigger gap than what happened days ago.

With time I'm afraid we might have to start off from scratch again, and if it ever does come it'll be hard on her, no doubt. '_Don't bite me now with your teeth of fear, I'm searching… All I want is pleasure…_' I thought to myself moving to rhythm of the music I had in my head.

So what if I looked pretty random, I liked the song a lot, that and because the title of it was pretty strange, it was named after a fish, _Barracuda_.

"Riku!" I looked around blinking slightly.

"Riku!" Again another person called out my name, but it was a male voice this time, I spotted Sora's spiky hair from about ten feet away, he's so easy to pick out from a crowd.

I saw Kairi and Sora finally come up to me. They smiled slightly and Kairi showed me what Sora had bought her, it was a ring from the accessory shop. '_Oh yeah, I have to start buying some items soon… I wonder if that Moogle still has those Earrings of Destiny, if they do then I got a good gift for her, which is a miracle because I actually have enough money…'_

"What are you thinking about Riku?" Kairi asked breaking my train of thought.

"Uh… Nothing!" I said laughing nervously. "Nothing at all…"

"Hey…" Sora popped into the conversation. "How did your talk with Selma go?"

'_What can I say it was bittersweet? How did my talk with her _not_ go? It wasn't what I was expecting, in fact I didn't expect for that to fall on me, knowing she's an ex-Chaser, I'm worried about her more than I ever was before. I'm scared for her, and I know she's scared for all of us… And I couldn't find a way for her to stay with us, I can't force her, but I wish she could be right here for now…_'

**Aerith's house… **

"You're going to have to give me two days at the minimum," Aerith said watching Cloud lean against one of the blood red walls. "But why that one?"

Cloud watched Amaterasu take off her pink sweater, underneath it she wore a long sleeved red shirt with white designs. She took off her shoes and rested against the black colored couch. Amaterasu eyed Cloud for a moment, and noticed he seemed different somehow. For one he wore blue tight jeans and a black muscle shirt. Aerith once told her that black was a good color for him since it brought out his eyes.

"It's either that one or _Sora ha itsum naite iru_," the young girl said. Cloud had made a slight look of distaste at the mention of the second option. "Your pick, Cloud."

" Santa Fe," Cloud said looking away from the black couch. "I like that one," he noticed the pleased smile on Aerith's face. "I'm only agreeing to do this because you're a good kid."

"Kid?!" Amaterasu whined slightly. If there was anything she hated more it was either being called short or a kid.

The other slightly older people just smiled seeming pleased with the look on the girl's face. Amaterasu asked, in a rather serious voice, if Cloud was going to share a paopu fruit with Aerith. At that moment the man with the black attire just covered his face with his hand.

"Ah, Ammi…" Aerith said taking Cloud's hand away from his face, "You want to practice it right now?"

"You have it with you?" she asked poking her head to view the others. "Aw, that's cute he's blushing!" he dark colored eyes caught sight of the light red hue on his face.

"So, when are you going?" Aerith asked trying hard not to poke fun at cloud.

"In 3 days, I hear also HBRC is going too," she noticed Cloud's eyes lit up a bit. "I see Cloud's kinda happy about it," she smirked a bit. "Anyway… If you want to practice it right now I'm up to it."

"Hey Cloud, are you still good with the bass?" Aerith asked in a sweet tone. He didn't say anything but she knew the answer already.

Cloud followed behind her as Aerith led both him and Ammi to a smaller room. Amaterasu hummed a bit as she walked, but from time to time she would suddenly think back to what had happened a couple of days ago. '_I'll be seeing you soon, Riku…_' she thought to herself.

**A/N: Here's a little preview of what's going to happen in the next chapter… **

"Hey, Ammi?"

"What?" she turned around to face Riku for a small moment.

"Do you remember when you asked me if I thought Amaterasu was pretty?"

"You don't really have to answer that…"

"Well…"

"Riku…"

"I'm just being honest, I mean come on…"

"I'm going to stuff popcorn in your face if you answer…"

"No you wouldn't." he said looking at her for a moment. "Besides I'll answer it anyway…"

"Fine…" she sighed. "So, did you think she was pretty?"

"Before or after I knew it was you?"

"Both…"

"You really want me to answer?"

**A festival, a couple of confessions, a fifty dollar bet based on the answer of the question… Riku playing the guitar… **

**Riku:** I don't even know how to play that…

**Ammi:** Now you do congratulations Riku…

**All that and more in the next chapter… Some suggestions would be nice, I'll give you guys cookies or something… **

**Riku:** She's kind of running out of some ideas, I think…

**A/N: You know what to do you guys, so um, thanks! **

**Amaterasu:** Hey I didn't get a POV shift!

**Me:** Sorry Ammi, but I was running out of time…

**Amaterasu: **Liar, you just didn't want to give me one because I didn't let Riku comfort me… It's not my fault, in part… Anyway read and review you guys!


	12. Festival Part I

**A/N: And once again it's time to thank my lovely reviewers, you each get 10 imaginary points, feel free to use it to buy something from here, like an imaginary cookie, that Riku made… I don't know if it's safe to eat though… **

**Thanks **KH meerkats **I'm glad you luffed it. **

**Thanks** SimpleNClean92 **I'm excited I'm able to do the festival part. **

**Thanks **Princess Kaira of Mirana **I'm glad you were able to use the points for something! Well yeah, apparently no one really knows what Riku's going to do with the guitar… But Ammi most likely will sing that is if she doesn't get shy… **

**Here's a little explanation as to why **Amaterasu** decided not to let Riku comfort her. **

"You were mere seconds away from getting ki-"

"I know that!" Amaterasu said covering her face with a pillow again. It was really soft and it smelled like her shampoo. Kairi sighed for a small moment and pulled the pillow away from Amaterasu's face.

"You were supposed to let him do it, that's what the script said…So why didn't you?"

"…Well…" Amaterasu scratched the back of her head staring out her trailer window. "Two words…"

"Which are?" Kairi asked attentively. "Come on, we have a couple of minutes before we have to go rehearse for the next chapter…"

"Fan girls…"

"That's the worst excuse you've come up with all day…"

"Well it's two words, isn't it?"

**She's not really off the hook yet, the answer will be revealed probably in this chapter, so you have to read it! **

**My _disclaimer_ is in the first chapter, and _also_ the song/s mentioned in this and in future stories/chapters I will say this once they aren't mine and go to their respective artists. **

**On with the story! **

**Chapter Twelve: Festival Part I **

"Are you guys excited, today's the festival!" Kairi said smiling brightly at the brunette and the silver haired teen. "Come on you guys, at least pretend your happy…" she said whining a bit at the slightly serious faces of the two boys.

"I'm tired as hell…" Riku said blinking slightly. In fact he had been excited for this day too, which was really rare for him, but since he had a feeling he might see his 'close friend' he decided to try and cheer up.

"Kairi, no offence or anything, but I'm kinda broke because of you…" Sora said remising a bit. He had opened his plain looking wallet to discover he only had 100 munny in it. "Hey Riku, have you had any luck trying to find a guitar?"

Riku looked up at his brown spiky haired friend and shook his head slightly. He sighed for a moment and tried to think again of where he could possibly find a guitar, a lot of places around the area of Traverse Town didn't sell the kind of guitar he was looking for, it was just a regular acoustic guitar, and apparently all they had were electric guitars.

"Maybe, if you ask, you could get one of the performers to lend you theirs," Kairi suggested before asking another question. "Why _do you_ want a guitar?"

"For something…" he said musing over the fact of what he should do. Sora and Kairi just stared at him for a little while longer, trying to think of all the possible reasons as to why in the world Riku would want a guitar. "Now if you guys are done staring at me… You want help me find a guitar or not?"

"I guess we have some time to kill…" Sora said laughing nervously. "I'm just kidding of course we'd like to help you find a guitar."

**In a hotel in ** **Traverse** **Town****… **

"This is Aerith Gainsborough," Amaterasu said to the woman in her mid thirties. Aerith boxed slightly at the mention of her name.

The woman extended a gentle hand to Aerith and told her, her name. She was Riku's mother, and her name was Leila Fonovi. Both Amaterasu and Aerith could see where Riku got his manners, not to mention his eyes. They didn't mind saying that she was a beautiful women, because it was true.

If one were to guess they could say she was a model, or something close to one. Truth be told Mrs. Fonovi was Miss Destiny Islands of '89 to '92, it had been hard work keeping that title hers for four long years.

"And this young man," Amaterasu motioned to Cloud as he got up and walked towards Mrs. Fonovi. "His name is Cloud Strife." Cloud shook her hand and she returned the gesture with a kind welcome.

"How has your wrist been, Mrs. Fonovi?" Amaterasu asked as Mrs. Fonovi invited them to sit in the living room.

"Well…" she looked at the black item around her left wrist, it was smaller than a cast. "I guess you could say it's better, thanks for asking, Amaterasu."

Aerith and Cloud both looked at Amaterasu bit stunned by what the woman just said. She rarely gave out her name to anyone. But since this was Riku's mother she could be trusted which was a good sign to them.

"Sorry I couldn't have gotten to your house sooner…" Amaterasu said feeling a bit guilty about the accident. Mrs. Fonovi just dismissed the whole sentence with a soft sentence.

"You don't have to be sorry, the important thing is that we're safe, right?"

_"You guys!" Moegami called out from the front door, he was out of breath but yet he still managed to call out to everyone in the house. _

_It had been roughly about a week since Sora and the others left. Things went back to their normal routine at least until a storm came to the area. Tachigami walked out calmly looking at her little brother. She asked him what was that matter. _

_"Heart…" he panted for a moment. "The Heartless…" _

_Yomigami went downstairs, managing to hear the last word his youngest brother said. "Are you sure?" he asked him. Moegami nodded. "Where's Kazegami?" _

_"He's out evacuating some of the people in the area…" Moegami said leaning against the doorway for support. _

_"He can't do it by himself…" Tachigami said with some concern as she looked at her twin. _

_"Where's Amaterasu?" Yomigami asked his brother and sister. They didn't know where she was at that point. "If she comes back tell her to help Kazegami…" and with that he grabbed a jacket and headed off into the storm. _

_It was raining heavily, almost to the point where it felt like hail. The winds were howling, ripping trees clear off the ground. Cars on the street were wailing as their alarms were set off, it was very chaotic that day. _

_Amaterasu had noticed something wasn't right and ran back home as fast as she could. She noticed that everyone was outside, but that Yomigami was missing. Tachigami had informed her that Kazegami needed help evacuating some of the people in the area. _

_"Where is he at?" _

_At that point Heartless started to sprout up from the ground like those annoying weeds you see on your front lawn. Tachigami called her Keyblade forth and hurled it to three Heartless, they vanished leaving behind a sort of black mist. _

_"Go!" Tachigami said slicing through another Heartless. "Help evacuate people!" _

_Amaterasu ran down the lawn, and the first place she decided to evacuate was the block on which Riku had lived on. Five of the Neo Shadow Heartless blocked her path, and she muttered under her breath. _

_"I don't have time for you!" she said noticing that the Heartless stopped in their track, she could hear them make a horrible hissing sound. She liked the little Heartless, the ones called Shadows, not the bigger one that blocked her path. _

_She brought out both of her Keyblades, and noticed a couple of the Heartless move back a bit. At that point more came out from under the shadows of nearby cars. It was still raining heavily, and even with her jacket it was still hard fighting like this. _

_A couple of Neo Shadows jumped into the air ready to strike her down with their claws. She threw her Anima Keyblade and let her Rapture Keyblade block an oncoming attack. The only thing she could remembering seeing was Mrs. Fonovi's limp body by her front porch and a Heartless fleeing the scene. _

"There's a piano in the main dining room of the hotel," Mrs. Fonovi said looking at Cloud and Aerith. "You two play?"

The two of them nodded and looked at Amaterasu. She finally came back from la-la-land. The festival was today, which meant that it was suppose to be a happy day. All four of them got up from the couch and Mrs. Fonovi directed them past the pale yellow hallway and down into the dining area. It was closed around 1 o'clock until 3 in the afternoon.

"Wait, wait…" Amaterasu said running to the grand piano. She sat down on the piano bench and let her fingers gently touch the ivory keys. "This was the first piece I learned to play…" it was none other than _Chopsticks_. "I played it this one time at a learning center, and some lady made me stop… I remember she was wearing a red blazer, and she looked sort of old. She told me to get my hands off of the keys and I remember hearing the lid of the piano close with this loud thud, but she let some of the kids from her program play with it, I remember feeling a bit mad at her, and embarrassed…" she had finished playing the piece and looked at the others just sitting by the piano.

"That was mean of her…" Aerith said frowning a bit. "How old were you when that happened?"

"16…" she said letting her fingers play something random.

That was a very long time ago, that was about thirty years ago, but no one would've have guessed it due to her appearance. Amaterasu and her family did not age one bit for the past thirty years, due to the actions of their parents, but that will be revealed in due time, still knowing that the siblings wouldn't dare tell anyone.

"Hey, Cloud what about that motif you were playing last time?" the girl tried to remember the name of it. "Wasn't it called, um…? Darn…"

Cloud, he took off his black gloves and moved his hands so that they hovered over the F sharp and the C sharp key. He played the motif with such grace it was hard to believe he was ever in SOLDIER. Aerith watched his skilled fingers; each note that was hit flowed into her heart.

"It's a theme for…" Amaterasu said gently smiling. "He-" she noticed that Cloud looked at her slightly, and she laughed nervously. "Fine, I won't tell…"

"I want to know…" Aerith said pleading with Cloud. "Come on, Cloud… Please?"

Mrs. Fonovi was enjoying her time hearing Cloud play the motif. It was something he constructed all by himself. Cloud told Aerith that it had been a birthday present for someone.

"Maybe we should start playing _Santa Fe_…" Cloud said as he finally finished playing the motif. "You have the sheet music, Aerith?"

**In another room…**

"Hey do you hear that?" Yuffie looked at Leon for a moment, he had his eyes closed trying to think of something. "Squall!" she said whining to him again. "Geez… Leon!" he opened his eyes and looked at her for a moment.

"What?" he asked her.

"Someone's playing the piano…" Yuffie said scratching the back of her head for a moment. "You wanna check it out?" she saw that he didn't answer. "Come on it'll be fun…. Please?" she asked giving him a big smile. She tugged on his arm.

"All right…" Leon said sighing for a moment as Yuffie smiled in triumph. He noticed Yuffie's shoes for a moment. "You'd better tie them, you're going to trip…"

"No I'm not, and even if I do I'll catch myself, I have great reflexes."

They reached the end of the pale yellow hallway and heard the sound of piano chords and a voice singing. Yuffie made a mad dash to the dining room and just like that she could feel her footstep on a shoelace, and as much as she wanted to she couldn't control her other leg from moving forward.

The ninja closed her eyes tightly as she was bracing herself to hit the floor. Leon covered his eyes with one hand shaking his head, and caught Yuffie as she stumbled forward. She was going to hit the floor, she was… Well Yuffie opened her eyes and noticed she didn't hit the floor, she was more worried about her shirt at this point, she thought it was going to rip or something.

"Tie your shoes…" Leon said letting go of Yuffie. "Or else I'll let you fall next time…"

"Is that why you didn't catch me last time?!" there was a thundering note coming out from the piano, it was a sour note. "You let me fall on purpose…? Hey you know that's pretty rude…" she told him.

"It's also rude to yell while some people are trying to practice!" they heard Amaterasu yell from across the area.

"It's rude to yell, period!" Yuffie answered back.

"Then why are you yelling?" Aerith's voice echoed a bit.

"Cause every time we touch I get this feeling…" Amaterasu's vice trailed off echoing for a moment.

Yuffie ran up to Amaterasu and as the girl turned around slightly the only thing she could see was an embarrassed ninja pounce on her. Cloud, Aerith, and Mrs. Fonovi had moved away before they ended up getting dragged into that. A shoe had gone midair landing with a sharp thud on the piano.

"I won't sing it then!" Amaterasu said tearing Yuffie's hand away from her. "Ack!" she strained under Yuffie's weight. "Get off of me… Not offence Yuffie but you're heavy…"

"Hey take that back!" Yuffie said pouting as she sat on her.

"What you want me to lie… You don't exactly weigh 100 pounds you know…" Amaterasu felt her spine giving away. "My spine…" she howled. "I can't breathe…" she said feeling the air in her lungs leave. At that point she stopped moving. Little did the ninja know she was just playing opossum.

"Why do stars fall down from the sky…?" Amaterasu sang out, and Yuffie's face grew red with embarrassment. "I have that one on tape… Ya know Leon might accidentally get that tape one day…"

"I thought you said you got rid of that tape…" Yuffie hissed into the girl's ear.

"I did, but what I didn't say was that I have copies… Why don't you just tell him how you feel?"

"Same reason you don't tell Riku…"

"Hey!" Amaterasu pushed Yuffie off of her. "That's completely different!" she said whispering harshly.

**R i k u **

It's 4:49 PM and we still haven't found an acoustic guitar, I think we've gone into about ten different music stores. The festival doesn't start until about 8, and yet I still think I won't have that guitar in at all.

"Do you really think they'll let me use their guitar?"

"I think so…" Kairi said looking at me for a moment. "I'm still curious as to _why_ you need the guitar."

"You'll see…" I said smiling for a moment.

I thought back to home, I use to have a guitar, I'm not sure if Mom was able to take it with her when the Heartless evaded, but I know when we restore the world's everything is going to be back in its place. All the places in the District area were getting ready for the festival, placing their items outside for sale and stuff.

Sora was off buying some pretzels, of course I lent him some money, since he was complaining about not having enough money. Kairi ended up taking my headphones away so that I would end up having to put up with Sora's whining.

"I didn't know she had Asian Kung Fu Generation in here…" Kairi said lowering the volume on the mp3 player. "I love them!"

"They're alright…" I said thinking back to only one song I like from them. "I like _Blue Train,_ but that's about it."

We ended up killing some time just walking around the area again, I wasn't thinking about the guitar anymore. What I was thinking about was what I would do if I ran into Ammi while I was with Sora and Kairi.

I know that eventually I'd have to tell them, or she might telling them herself, after all after the festival 'we' have to talk to them.

For right now I'm not going to think about **anything**, I am however going to finish eating this _Yan-Yan_. For those who don't know what _Yan-Yan_ is, it's this little container with little crunchy yeast bars, and you get to dip them in a container that either has vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry.

Personally I love chocolate, and I've been eating these things since I was a little kid. Besides chocolate is an anti-depressant, well technically it's dark bittersweet chocolate that's the anti-depressant. The only reason I know this because of my mom, she use to tell me things like this.

Something rang out from my front pocket and I looked down having a _Yan-Yan_ stick in my mouth. I placed the container down on this little brown stool near a store and answered the call.

"Hewo?" it's hard talking with food in your mouth.

"Riku?" the voice called out laughing a bit.

"Awi?!"

"Are you talking with your mouth full?" she asked as I gulped it all really fast.

"No!" I said answering quickly. "No, I'm not…"

"Hmm… So, how have you been?" she asked. I could hear a piano in the background.

"I'm all right… Hey who's playing the piano?" I picking up the container and sitting down on the patio area of the place.

"Ah… Um well, it's your mom…" she said.

"Mom? She can play the piano?" I asked almost dropping my container. "Ah…" I caught the container before the sticks fell.

"I taught her how to play _Chopsticks_…. So are you going to be at the festival?"

"Of course…" I said biting off the little snack stick. "Are you?"

"Yeah, absolutely!" she said, she sounded happy.

"I'll see you there then, right?"

"Most definitely…" I heard someone yelling in the background. "I don't know… Hold on…It's a date…" I heard her sigh softly after that, and someone yelled at her again. "Anyway I have to go Riku, Tachigami needs help. Bye bye, see you later tonight!"

"Uh…" I didn't hear any noise after that, and well the only thing that brought me back from my daze was the fact that my snack fell on the ground, but for now I didn't really care. "A date?" I asked myself looking at the flashing screen on my cell phone.

**In the main hall of the hotel… **

"It's a date…" she repeated again. "_'Fechado'_ means dated…" Amaterasu said looking back at her older sister. "_'Fecha'_ means date, remember?" she corrected her older sibling's Spanish.

"Oh yeah…" she said smiling slightly. "So are you done practicing?" she asked looking at Cloud and Aerith for a moment as they finished practicing the song _Santa Fe_. There was a small piano stationed in the main hall of the motel, which was better for the acoustics of the instrument.

"Yeah…" all three of them said, sounding rather relieved at the fact that it was all done.

"Don't go getting cold feet now…" Aerith said poking Amaterasu on her nose. "If you do I'm coming after you with Cloud's First Sword, got it?"

"Can you even pick that thing up?" Amaterasu said dodging a playful punch by the flower maiden.

"It's five o'clock you guys… You should probably start getting ready or something, the festival will be starting at 8… okay?" Tachigami said walking back into the area.

"Come on, let's go Amaterasu!" Aerith said grabbing the girl by the hand.

"Hey, whoa!" she felt Aerith pull her out from her chair, and led her deeper in to the building. "Cloud!" she looked back at the 'lone wolf' as she called. "Control your girlfriend!"

"Struggling makes it worse…" he said to her.

Aerith really was bent on making Amaterasu shine today. She found Yuffie in the dining area, pigging out on little pastries, which apparently Leon was going to pay for. 'Pay for' meant that in Yuffie's mind that she would just give him the bill and run off.

"How cute…" Yuffie said opening the door to Aerith's room. "Ammi's going on a date with Riku. It's about time you've had one, you're WAY over due…"

"What's that suppose to mean!?" Amaterasu called out to the ninja.

"Xehanort ring a bell?" Yuffie said, at that point the whole room was filled with silence. She gasped slightly at the words that came from her mouth. "I'm sorry, Amaterasu, I totally forgot… I'm sorry!"

"No…" she said shaking her head slightly. "It's all right… I mean you forgot, so it's only natural…"

"Let's just try and let that go…" Aerith said leading Amaterasu to her closet. "First of all, we have to get you some festive clothing! Come on, what do you say?"

Amaterasu just looked at Aerith as if she had just spoken to her in Chinese or something. Yuffie tried really hard not to laugh at the look on the girl's face, but it was hard not to.

"Wait… I'm wearing a skirt?" Amaterasu said looking at the article of clothing laid out for her. "I hate wearing skirts…" she muttered to herself.

There was a knock at the doorway and Tachigami entered the area. She smiled sweetly at her sister and offered her help, since it was going to be a challenge to get her younger sister to comply with the whole wardrobe change.

"Treat it like that dance you had with what's-his-face…" Tachigami said closing the door behind her and walking forward.

Amaterasu shuddered at the fact she remembered that day. "I think that day has been emotionally burned into my brain…" she said exaggerating the last word.

"Stop complaining…" Yuffie said handing Ammi the clothing Aerith picked out for her. She rushed her into the bathroom. "Don't take to long changing, we don't have a lot of time, okay?"

"Fine… But I won't like it…" Amaterasu said closing the door to the bathroom. "Did I ever tell you how conservative I am?" she said, apparently she didn't really like the clothing handed to her.

**At the hotel entrance… **

It was seven o'clock now and Riku was waiting outside for him mom. As if his prayers had been answered, his guitar was salvaged from the whole wreckage of the Heartless attack. He had received a call from his mom two minutes after his talk with Amaterasu, and he sat by a bench near the hotel entrance.

Riku was wearing a black collared shirt with a red tie, and black pants with black shoes.

His mother stepped out of the window revolving door, wearing a black stylish dress. She greeted her son with a long hug and kisses on his cheek and forehead. She smiled at him and held him again. Her boy was equally happy and glad to see her.

"Here's your guitar, son." She said in a gentle tone handing him the instrument. "You know if it wasn't for Amaterasu the guitar would've probably had the same fate as the islands."

"Did you say Amaterasu?" Riku was a bit in shock. How did his mother come across that name?

"Yeah, you know Selma. I thought she told me that you knew…" she said the last part to herself.

"No, I mean yeah I know, but I didn't think you'd know…" he said laughing nervously. "Has she told you anything else?"

"Not really, she's still the same quiet girl as always. Speaking of which…" she looked back at the hotel. "She's about ready to come down…" she noticed one of the hotel windows went dark.

Riku gulped slightly as he could feel the pain in his heart come back, but this time there was a mild cold feeling slowly working its way up. He knew that once he saw her that his heart would feel as though it was on fire, he didn't know how he knew, but he just did. '_The paopu fruit, it really does intertwine destinies together. I never would have thought that it was true, but it is…_'

Tachigami stepped out first from the revolving door, she was wearing some black Capri pants, used for parties and a black and white striped shirt. Moegami was wearing a light green long sleeved shirt, with a slightly tanned colored vest, and matching pants with brown shoes. His hair was still the same untidy mess as it always was.

Kazegami was wearing a white plain cotton shirt with blue jeans and a black scarf around his neck with gloves that only covered the knuckles and not the fingers. Gekigami wore the same thing, but instead of blue jeans he wore black jeans.

Yomigami on the other hand had the same hair style from Kairi and Riku's last encounter with them. He wore khaki colored pants and a white collared shirt with striped fishnet like clothing on his arms.

"Ammi, get out here!" Gekigami said walking back to the revolving door and dragging out his little sister.

"Are you sure I look okay?" she asked her brother again for the tenth time.

"Yes, now come out!" and with that he pulled her out the door and she stumbled forward.

'_She looks…_' Riku could feel his mouth open slightly, he never saw her wear something like that, so he was surprised to see that type of clothing on her.

Amaterasu frowned slightly as she looked back at Gekigami. She rubbed the back of her head slightly and sighed looking down for a moment.

The girl had decided to wear, or rather, she was only given the option of wearing a black frilly skirt, that was longer on one side, with a white sash around her waist. The shirt was a white V-cut blouse with pastel blue and black designs on it, with matching shoes.

"Hey where are Cloud and the others?" she asked looking back at Tachigami.

"They're still getting ready. You know how they are…" Tachigami said fixing her hair a bit. "Aren't you going to get a jacket?" she paused for a moment. "If I send you back in there you might not come out again… I'll lend you mines, okay?" her sister nodded in reply with a slight sigh.

Amaterasu looked back and noticed Mrs. Fonovi talking with her son. She waved at them slightly and they returned the gesture. She noticed he had a guitar strapped to his back, and titled her head in slight confusion.

**First District… **

"They're saving our places?" Amaterasu asked Riku.

"Yeah…" he said adjusting the strap on his guitar. "They're probably going to have us up in the front."

Amaterasu just sighed and scrunched up her nose, she didn't really like noisy areas, but since it was a festival after all, she would at least try and comply with it once.

The music portion of the festival, which was in Second District would take up two hours, and then after that it was pretty much whatever the people wanted.

"The fireworks are going off around 12…" Riku said walking ahead, noticing Amaterasu stopped for a moment. "What's wrong?"

"Ah, well…" she fiddled with the frills on her skirt. "I, uh… I don't want to see them…"

"Ah come on, I mean… Sure you fought with Kairi…" Riku paused as Amaterasu pouted for a moment. "Ok, yeah I can why… Sora's a forgiving guy. He'll accept your apology."

Amaterasu walked past Riku for a moment and turned to face him. "It's not Sora I'm worried about it's Kairi… Can I just stay here, and wait?"

"Stop doing that, running away from your problems. That won't solve it. Just face the music." Riku said walking up to her and taking her by the hand. "Sometimes you do act like a little kid."

"Sometimes I wish I was a little kid…" she muttered under her breath as Riku dragged her with the crowd that was going to Second District.

The dancing portion of the whole festival was starting to go underway with a DJ that Sora believed to look exactly like Axel, but his name was DJ Alex. Kairi saw Riku arriving inside Second District, and waved him down. She called out to the two of them and they came, but she noticed that Riku's guest was pulling back a bit.

"Just tell them right now…" Riku said looking back at his guest.

"Bite me…" she muttered shaking her head slightly.

"You're being stubborn…"

"Hey you guys!" Sora said smiling at them. " Selma, how have you been?"

'_Sora's kind of dense…_' Amaterasu thought to herself for a moment, and shook Sora's hand. "I've been doing pretty well, how about you?"

"Good!" Sora said calling Kairi over to them.

"You don't really have to…" she stopped as she saw Kairi. "Kairi… Hi!" she said giving her a big smile.

Kairi didn't say anything, her brain was trying to say it was Selma, but her heart knew it was Amaterasu, at that point she asked the question to the obvious answer.

"You're _her_ aren't you?" she asked a bit angrily pulling Sora slightly back.

"I'd be lying if I said 'no'," she said rubbing the back of her head.

"Why didn't you…? Out of all the… Why'd you have to hit me so hard?!"

"I can't go soft on you!" she said as if Kairi had just said something horribly terrible.

"Wait! _You're_ Amaterasu?" Sora asked finally letting the evidence dawn on him.

"Duh!" the others said frowning at Sora.

"Let's just forget this, okay?" Riku said trying to calm down Kairi. "At least let's _try_ and have a good time."

**R i k u **

Things were going underway, that and well we ended up placing the guitar in back of the stage that the turntables were placed on. With that the music went under way, a lot of techno songs were being put on, at the request of the DJ, who really does look a lot like Axel. Maybe Nobodies don't fade away into darkness but they find a new life or something like that.

It looked like Kairi and Amaterasu patched things up rather quickly, Kairi was usually the forgiving type, and she said she owed Amaterasu for saving me back there on Isla. The first song that was _'The Road to Lost Withiel'_ by BT, it was just techno rather than anything else.

It took me a while to get Amaterasu to dance, but in the end she did, because I had to bribe her with something. I have to end up buying her some ice-cream after this, so I shouldn't forget.

The others finally came and they were all dancing, a lot of people were in the area, and there were lanterns everywhere, streamers, and a lot of other festival items. The place was really bright.

A couple of songs into the whole thing, and I had to take a break and Amaterasu kept on dancing with her family this time. It was nice seeing her laugh and having a good time. She walked over the area I was sitting at and pulled me forward, she was coaxing me to go and dance with her again.

It didn't take that long for my response and she seemed glad. We ended up dancing next to Sora and Kairi and we would switch dance partners once in a while. The music was loud and there was a fog machine and strobe lights, just really loud and flashy.

"My heart goes boom, boom, boom," Kairi and Amaterasu were singing along to the song the DJ put on.

_'Boum-Boum' _a song written by Enigma, which was alright, in my mind. I pulled Amaterasu closer when the lyrics 'I want you, just you,' came on.

"Cause I wanna be your lover…"

"Till the end of our lives…" Amaterasu sang the rest of it for me.

Kairi and Ammi ended up singing the whole song while we were all dancing, and Sora was also enjoying himself as he was able to dip Kairi on the last note of the song. _'Kiss Kiss'_ by DJ Cammy came out and we all focused our attention as the DJ sang out whole song. We all in turn sang along with him, moving a bit to the beat of the music.

To be honest a lot of DJ Cammy songs were coming up, a lot of which I didn't know. The first hour was done and the DJ asked if any people were willing to participate in sing some songs. To my surprise Amaterasu raised her hand and dragged Kairi, and she ended up dragging me into the whole thing.

The song the DJ wanted us to sing was one I knew. _'In the Shadow,_ _In the Light,'_ written by Enigma.

_I promise you, for all my life  
I'll be Always on your side  
In the shadow, in the light.  
I'll follow you, wherever life goes  
But I'll always be aside  
In the shadow, in the light.  
But if we don't understand…  
Hell is happy, heaven is sad  
And that's the result of our brain…  
Insane…  
Caravan of life  
By day and by night  
Every tile's a part of life  
If it's shadow, or if it's light  
I promise you, even when the tide is high  
I'll be always on your side  
In the shadow, in the light _

Amaterasu pulled away after the song was done and she was seen talking to the DJ and he was nodding to whatever she was saying.

"Hey, listen up!" the DJ said through his mike. "We got a special request here from this young girl." The DJ said, the crowd was silent. "It's _'_ _Santa Fe__'_ by Angela Aki." At that point Kairi and I walked downstage.

**A m a t e r a s u **

This was it, I don't feel nervous now, but I know once I start singing that I might just forget the words. The good thing is though that the DJ has the piano version of it, which will make me feel a bit more comfortable. '_A lot of people are going to be watching though…_' I thought to myself. The piano melody was starting and a paced myself.

"He spoke my language in this foreign land. Familiar secrets shared in a sinful bed. Imagination flowing through his ancient hands. He painted just my fantasy in red, bright red…" I was singing my little hart out, and at that point I started to feel my stage fright leave me.

Those five minutes went by pretty fast, and I was glad I did it. I could see my friends cheer loudly and it made me feel good. I handed the mike back to the DJ and I walked down stage and Riku ended up kissing my cheek for a moment.

"That was great!" he said walking me back to where Kairi and Sora were at.

"You know I really wished they would've up some J-Rock or something…" I said thinking back to the songs in my mp3 player.

With that the dance was over, which was a good thing because my feet were hurting. We all went our separate ways and decided we'd met back by 12 back in a place called Traverse Park, that's where the fireworks were going to go off.

Riku got his guitar and he took me to First District and he bought some ice-cream. I had a really bad carving for sea-salt ice-cream, and well I got my wish. I smiled at him slightly and lightly tasted it, feeling some weird tinge in my heart it was warm.

"Hey…" he called out softly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" I said still trying to figure out why my heart felt warm. Heartburn? I didn't eat anything spicy so we can rule out heartburn. "Let's get going to the park…" I said pulling him along.

He picked out a spot that was under a giant tree. The sky was very beautiful, the landscape of the stars shining and the moon, it was all peaceful. I heard Riku strum his guitar, and it sounded out of tune.

"Sorry, I hit it when I was carrying it out…" I said finishing my ice-cream.

"Thanks…" he said.

"For what?"

"Well you didn't have to save the guitar." He said tuning the instrument. "Oh, hey you know how earlier you want J-Rock?"

"Yeah…" I said arching an eyebrow in confusion.

"Listen…" he said strumming the chords to a familiar. "Saikou sokudo no seimeitai enerugii…"

"Hey that's _Raion._"

He shushed me for a moment and I listened to the song he played. I only heard him sing one other time, and that was at the dance, surprisingly he did sing pretty well. I watched his fingers on the fret, and he played with almost the same style as Cloud did when he played the piano.

"That was beautiful Riku!" I said smiling at him. Even at night I could feel in my heart that he had blushed. "Why are you blushing?"

"I'm not…" he said looking away for a moment.

**With Reeve and the others… **

"Wait, so you're saying you're willing to bet fifty munny that nothing will happen?" Gekigami said watching the others who were betting. The others just nodded in agreement. "All right then I'm in." he said.

"I don't know…" Yuffie said. "Something might happen, you never know…" she said placing 50 for the bet that said 'yes'.

"Yeah well Amaterasu's our sister, so we know how she'll act." Tachigami said feeling confident with the bet.

"So then, are all bets closed?" Yuffie said looking back at the people on her table.

Reeve moved his money. "Hold on I'm going for the other one…" he said placing the area that said 'no'.

"Reeve, that's the third time!" Yuffie said shaking her head furiously.

They were sitting at an area close to the park, where they got a good view of the two teenagers.

"I smell money!" Yuffie said laughing. "Are you sure you don't want to change?" she asked the others.

"No…" the siblings said throwing death glares at the ninja.

**A m a t e r a s u **

Riku placed an earpiece on his ear, and I put one on mine, he pulled out the little mp3 player. He pressed the play button and I heard a familiar song come on. He ended up pulling me a bit closer to him, and well it felt kind of nice.

"Hey that's _'This Love'_," I said, taking Riku's cue to start dancing.

The song was like a slow ballad, which was something I liked, and it really did capture the mood of the whole thing. I rested my head against his shoulder, an I could feel some strands of hair gently touch my neck.

I closed my eyes and felt another memory come back.

_"It's a slow song, come on it'll be fun." The young teenager said. He pulled me up to my feet as I was sitting on a bench. _

_"Xehanort, I really don't think we should…" I said looking at the area we were in. "I'm not a big crowd person." _

_"Then just pretend no one's here." He said somehow taking me deeper into the crowd. "Just trust me, all right?" _

_"I have a feeling this is going to be burned into me brain," I said exaggerating the last word. _

_"Stop complaining, Ammi," back then he was the only person who called me that sometimes. "It's your day off and you're going to spend it dancing." _

_"My feet are going to…" the only thing I could remember was something soft brush up against my lips, and it was a feeling I knew I would never forget. _

This was only the beginning of the Festival of Light, and I really wished it would last forever, but that was impossible. I just enjoyed dancing with Riku, and I knew he was enjoying it too.

"Hey, Ammi?" he whispered.

"What?"

"Do you remember when you asked me if I thought Amaterasu was pretty?" I could feel my cheeks get a bit red.

"You don't really have to answer that…"

"Well…"

"Riku…"

"I'm just being honest, I mean come on…"

"Fine…" I sighed for a moment knowing I couldn't shake off the curiosity. "So, did you think she was pretty?"

"Before or after I knew it was you?"

"Both…"

"You really want me to answer?" I nodded slightly and he smiled at me for a moment. "Let's just say that after I found out it was you, I thought you were more than just being pretty."

"Why the heck does that remind of something from a movie?" I asked pausing for a moment.

"You know we're having a pretty good moment…" Riku said trying to get me to go with the flow.

"You know the music has stopped, so you can let go of me…" I said trying to get him a bit ruffled up.

"Ammi…" he started to whine slightly.

I sighed and gave up pulling away from his embrace. We ended up sitting against the trunk of the tree, and a lot of things were running in and out of my head.

I thought back to Cloud and Aerith. I knew those two were having a good time. Kairi and Sora of course those two are having fun. The others from HBRC were having fun too, they always found ways to entertain themselves.

"I have something to tell you Riku…" I said looking at him for a moment. He looked back at me, and he was ready to listen. "Do you know someone by the name of Xehanort?"


	13. Festival Part II

**Chapter Thirteen: Festival Part II **

"Xehanort?!" the three of them looked at Amaterasu as if she had just killed someone.

"How do you…? Why would you…? Why?" that was all Kairi could say, she looked at the girl a bit confused.

Amaterasu had asked Riku to call them up, and soon they could get their talk underway. She sighed for a moment still trying to let the pain in her heart subside, it wasn't the easiest thing to talk about.

Xehanort, he called himself Ansem once, out of ignorance born of deception. He was, in part, responsible for the exile of Ansem the Wise, and that was how the events of this whole thing started.

"You see, this all started about either more or less than 3 decades ago…" she began, laughing nervously. At that point the fireworks started to go off, and all four of them looked up at the sky.

"Strangely it happened during a festival, almost like this one. I met Xehanort, when I was still just a kid."

"But that would make you… old…" Sora said giving up as he counted with his fingers.

"I don't age, but that's another story entirely!" she said almost sounding proud for a moment. Another firework went off, it had blue and gold sparked shower part of the sky. "It'd be better if I just show you the memory…" she said to all of them, "Once the fireworks are over."

**Back to Reeve and the others… **

"We're going to win!" Tachigami counting down to the end of the fireworks display. Yuffie gave her a sour look, and just looked back at the fireworks.

"Tachigami…" the ex-Chaser looked down at what called her name. It was a small robotic cat.

"Cait Sith…" she had seen the little robotic cat earlier before. "What's up?"

"About Amaterasu, how does she know Xehanort?"

"I've been meaning to ask you that myself." Reeve said looking back at the young female. Everyone at the table got quiet and all attention was focused on Tachigami.

It was a very difficult matter to explain, but this was the only thing she could say. "Him and my little sister at one point, they…" she chose her words carefully. "They were once involved with one another."

"What, that's…!" Yuffie blurted out loud in protest.

"It still will sound weird in whichever way she says it," Yomigami said looking at Yuffie with a cautious glance. "Funny though it was around the same time as 'Project Blitz'."

"Question?" Yuffie raised her hand slightly. "What was that project about anyway?"

"Let me answer this one!" Moegami said raising his hand into the air. "Professor Hojo, was given orders to study people's hearts, like Xehanort, under King Ansem's orders. Professor Hojo at the time was trying to physically infuse darkness into a person's heart, and make it stay there forever. That's when he got some stupid idea to create a fake heart…"

"Fake heart?" Squall asked. He had arrived with Cloud and Aerith.

"Yeah," Moegami went on explaining. "A black box type of heart."

"So it's hidden?" Squall asked.

"A hidden type of heart, like it's unattainable at times. It means that the person has an artificial heart of darkness, and their own heart." The youngest male said using some napkins he found on the table.

"That was the only way one could have darkness without turning into a Heartless, back in that time." Yomigami said. "Riku of course broke that fine line, lucky kid…"

"The whole project was to create these types of dark soldiers. The way the artificial heart was placed, it would have find some place within the original heart, and Hojo made a small incision," Moegami stabbed the napkin, "and placed it in there. Mind you the fake heart was small."

"How many people were subjected to this?" Aerith asked.

"About five dozen…" Yomigami was uncertain about the amount. "We're the only two that survived. We had high resistance to the artificial heart, and our body would reject it time and time again. At one point it was locked…" Yomigami said pointing to his heart. "At a certain age it was opened up again, and of course we don't reject the fake heart now… the heart, it's a very strange thing…"

"You know…" Yuffie looked back at the fireworks that were still being set off. "All this talking and stuff, we forgot about the bet thingy…"

**Twilight** **Town**

Two hooded figures walked down the streets enjoying the silence of the night. The taller one with the purple eyes was male, and slightly shorter one was female, and she had honey colored eyes. The two of them walked in unison giving off a weird vibe wherever they went, which was normal to them.

"Lucifer's gone…" the female said looking back at her partner.

"That's not a problem…" the male said holding no remorse in his voice. "I think it's better this way, he wasn't much of a fighter anyway."

"Is that why you sent him there?"

"Sort of. At least we know that those pests are there."

"The Diaz family?" the female asked stopping for a moment in her tracks. The male stopped in his tracks and looked back.

"Them…" he said harboring some kind of hate. "And that kid… The Keyblade's chosen one…"

"You still really think he's going to be like _him_?"

"It happened once…" he said taking his hood off. He had messy brown hair and light skin. "It'll most likely happen again, Leana."

**a m a t e r a s u **

The last firework was about to go off, and the whole thing gave me some time to gather my thoughts, and some memories I wanted them to see. I sighed for a moment and I noticed Riku kept looking in my direction.

The last firework went off showering the sky with pink, gold, purple and white. For a moment it looked like rain, and the last image on there was that of a heart. It was very nice, which meant that the festival was coming to an end. In my mind though, I had another festival I wanted to show them.

"Hold hands you guys." I said pulling their attention away from the display. They all did as they were told. "Close your eyes, and let the beating of your heart take you away…" I noticed the hesitant look in their eyes. "Trust me on this, nothing bad will happen."

_It was in mid December when this started to unfold. My brother and I just got out of the castle, still rubbing our temples feeling as though our hearts were going to explode. _

_Yomigami had longer shaggier hair back then, and I had my hair in layers. He had just turned eighteen and I turned sixteen. A couple of people, mostly maids, greeted us as we walked down the stairs. It was a very busy day, because a festival was scheduled for today. _

_"Still alive I see?" the two of us looked down at the bottom of the stair case. _

_This person's name, with the slight short black hair, that had bangs covering one part of his face, his name was Vincent Valentine. He was undergoing a different kind of experiment, but all by the same man, Hojo. _

_"Nothing's going to get rid of us." Yomigami said smiling at him. _

_"Brother, let's go…" I said gently still rubbing my temple a bit. "Mom's going to get mad at us again." _

_The night time had finally started to set in, and the festival was going as planned. The fireworks signaled the beginning of the whole thing. I remember looking up the night sky, noticing a blue comet looking thing coming down. _

_"Hey, look!" I pointed up as one of the fireworks showered out their sparks. _

_My family and I, we had front row seats since we were slightly close to the king himself. My mother and sister looked up at the blue comet like object, and my fathers eyes glanced up slightly. My dad, Mom use to tell me I looked like him, and I knew it to be all too true. _

_"Is that a shooting star?" I remembered hearing my brother Kazegami say. _

_I could remember hearing people scream and shout as the comet was getting closer, but for some reason my parents didn't pull away. I could see the object get closer and closer, and the fireworks were still going off. _

_"What if the fireworks hit it?" Moegami asked my mother. _

_"It'll probably hurt the boy…" she said. _

_"What boy?" we all asked. _

_"There…" my father pointed out. _

_The comet like thing was in fact a person, and the human figure was becoming more defined little by little. _

_"Why aren't we leaving like the other people?" I asked. _

_"He might get hurt…" and I remember as my mother said that the comet was a couple of yards away, and Aero spell was placed on the ground, and the human comet came crashing down, creating a sort of small crater around the area we stood by. _

_King Ansem was at the festival, because he rushed over to the scene, and he thanked my mother and father for their help. _

_"It looks like he's wounded…" I couldn't see anything. _

_"He's armor, pieces of it are singed." I heard my dad say. "There's another set of armor here, this ones pale…" that was my mom's voice. _

_"Hey!" Tachigami called out pushing her hair back. "A sword fell out of his hands!" she said picking it up, it was really heavy. _

_"That's cool!" my younger brothers and I said. _

_I walked forward and was finally able to see the comet guy. I looked down at the ground, he was wearing broken armor, with a torn and messy cape. He had brown hair, the middle part was combed back while the sides of it were left alone. _

_His face guard fell to the floor with a heavy thud, and I remembering picking it up, it felt really cold to the touch. He moaned a bit in pain, and King Ansem ordered to bring in a couple of mages. My mom was one of those, but she needed more help to take the guy into the castle. _

_I remember seeing his blue eyes for a small moment, but when he opened them up again they were amber. _

_"Hey… Are you okay?" I asked him, he moved his mouth a bit. _

_"It hurts…" _

_"What does?" I asked trying to keep him awake. _

_"My heart…" _

"That was the first time I saw Xehanort." I explained to them as the link to the chain of my memories was cut off to them. "I didn't really know what had happened to him, but for some reason I probably should have said something when he said his heart was hurting."

"He looked, really young…" Sora said. I could feel his eyes on me. "And, he had _brown_ hair and _blue_ eyes. He was really different back then… I mean he wasn't _bad_…"

"I have another memory you guys," I said closing my eyes for a moment.

_It wasn't a white room or anything, this place was called the infirmary and it might as well have been called the 'White Room,' it was white, and just sort of eerie. Mom made me check up on the outsider with Tachigami and Gekigami. _

_I ran up to the bed where he slept at, and I looked at his face for a moment, he was fast asleep. Mom said he was around 18, which meant I was two years younger than him. Tachigami sat next to him, and extended her hand over his chest, a light green glow came out from her hand and washed over his body. _

_"He said his heart hurt…" I said looking back at my brother and sister. _

_"When did he say that?" Tachigami asked. _

_"A month ago, when he crashed here." _

_"Why didn't you say that earlier?" Tachigami said, telling Gekigami to take care of the rest. "I'm going to tell King Ansem, and Mom, you two stay here." _

_We just sat there, waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Finally the guy started to move a bit muttering phrases and stuff. He opened his eyes slightly, and it was a mixture of amber and blue. _

_"Aqu-" he had his hand stretched out, as if trying to grasp something. _

_"Don't strain yourself…" I said putting his arm down. _

_"You're that girl," he whispered hoarsely. "From before…" _

_I blinked slightly, he had barely been conscious when he crashed here, and by surprise the whole thing caught me off guard. Gekigami sighed for a moment rolling his eyes muttering something in Spanish. _

_"Is **she** here?" he asked. _

_"Who?" both of us said. _

_"My friend…She came with __me.__" He said, trying to move a bit. I shook my head slightly. _

_"Don't move," Gekigami said. "You'll open up your wound again." _

_"Wound?" he asked blinking his eyes slightly. _

_"It's by your chest," Gekigami said just to advise him to be careful. "If you move around even for a bit you'll open it up again, and Tachigami's going to get mad again at all of us." _

_"Tachigami?" he said looking at the two of us confused. _

_"Our big sister." Gekigami said describing her a bit. "Anyway, what's you name?" _

_"My name…" he repeated it softly to himself. "I think is was Another…" _

_"Another?" I asked, finding it strange to be called something so simple like that. _

_"But Xehanort sounds really familiar…" he said staring up at the white ceiling. "I think Xehanort was my name." _

_"You don't remember your name?" we both asked him. _

Sora paused everything for a moment, "Wait let me get this straight, he was in a battle?"

"That's what we were told." I told him feeling the vision before me go fuzzy. "It was around the same time the Keyblade was first heard of. Back then we had no idea something like that even existed."

"That sword he dropped, was it a Keyblade?" Kairi asked looking directly at me.

"Not close…" I said thinking about it for a moment. "If memory serves right, it had no keychain. You all know for a fact a Keyblade with no keychain is just about as good as a sword."

"What kind of battle anyway?" Sora asked seeming interested in their former enemy.

"Keyblade War." I said simply. I sighed for a moment and disbanded the memory all together. There was a sound of glass breaking as the chains started to break off one by one. My memory of that day broke off and fell back into the darkness of my heart. "It's hard to describe what happened that day, no one really knows, but what we would guess was that he was in it, since he had worn out battle armor, and battle scars."

I looked at Riku for a moment and he didn't really seem all that comfortable with the fact I knew Xehanort, he didn't say anything for the whole thing. At one point or another Xehanort had given me the same expression, but that was for something else entirely. Those two were so much alike. '_That's why I feel weird around you…I get it now, you carry **his** darkness…_' I thought to myself, it just really made everything a bit worse in my head.

"King Mickey a while back, he gave you guys a letter right?" I asked them clearing my throat for a moment. The smell from the fireworks somehow made its way over to this area of the park.

Sora and the others nodded, and Kairi asked as to why. The answer should have really been obvious, but I guess it wasn't, or it was, but they still wanted to hear it from my mouth.

"I mean it is pretty obvious…" I said laughing slightly, "You guys need us as much as we need you."

"Why would ex-Chaser's want our help?" Kairi asked. "I mean not to be rude or anything… You guys are pretty strong…"

"Ha…" I said laughing sarcastically. "We're nothing compared to the actual Chasers. We were born into their ranks, we didn't have to work our way up. But that aside, we're looking for certain memories, and I'm think that they're in the heart of each world."

"You think?" Riku asked, finally speaking.

"A very _strong_ possibility that it's there." I said sighing for a moment.

**r i k u **

'_A strong possibility…_' I thought to myself as I looked at her for a moment.

For some reason every time I heard the name Xehanort, or even saw him in her memories, it made my blood boil. I just didn't feel all that comfortable when he was mentioned.

Ad now, knowing for a fact that she knew it, I just felt confused, and somehow in my heart I felt betrayed. If anything, I think our friendship is starting break apart now, due to some damn memory of **him**.

I know that dang Xehanort hasn't really left, since I'm still using the darkness he gave me, but I really wish he didn't have to affect my friendship with her.

It got me thinking again too. The reason why she was so comfortable around me, could it be because of Xehanort? Do I remind her of **him**? When she looks at me, does she look at me, or does she see **him **in me?

It's all really confusing, and I'm getting pissed at the same time now. I can't even begin to grasp the whole concept between Xehanort and Amaterasu. A voice in the back of my head was answering my questions, and I started to feel my heart sink.

'_You know she'd never let go,_' I voice in my head told me. '_I now that, but there's still a chance to set things right again, like how it was before…_' I answered back in my head.

The others were just talking some more, and I ended up blanking everything out, lost in the darkness in my heart.

'_Would you be willing to go back into the dark, to help your friends?' _

_"Why would I want to do that?"_ I asked myself.

_'Some of that darkness in your heart, it may have some memories she may need.'_

The festival had been some fun up until this point, when the whole weight of reality came crashing down on all of us. I didn't really want that to happen, but I knew somehow it was going to, and I wish it didn't.

'_Each of their fates pass through time and gather together…_'

At that point I caught the scent of darkness again, but it was coming in the direction opposite of us. Amaterasu was already standing up looking in the direction of the scent, she looked back at us with a sad gaze. Something told me that everything would turn bad from here on out.

**A/N: You know what to do _1_ review. **


	14. Memory in the Keyhole

**Thanks **Princess Kaira of Mirana **it's okay if you didn't have anything to say about the chapter before that. **

**In fact that's the longest I've ever written for this story. **

**Anyway, yeah well Riku's have some friendship issues…**

**On with the story... **

**Chapter Fourteen: Memory in the Keyhole **

"What took you so long?!" Kazegami yelled from across the area.

All of the other teenagers were running down the hill, the scent of darkness was overwhelming. It felt as though they were being weighed down by the thick odor. Sora made it first to Kazegami and he panted for a moment to catch his breathing.

"They're here." The youngest sibling said pointing to Second District. "They started pouring out from that fountain with the butterfly."

The other three finally made it standing next to Sora, repeating the same modus operandi to catch their breaths. Amaterasu looked at her sibling for a moment and then back to some smoke that caught her eye.

Within a matter of moments a dark portal formed underneath their feet and Amaterasu sighed for a moment commanding the pool of black matter to wrap around the people around her. The black matter wrapped around the bodies slowly.

"What are you doing?!" Sora asked struggling to push the matter away.

"Relax…" she said softly. "Just trust me for right now."

Kazegami closed his eyes for a moment feeling the cold liquid like substance start to crawl up his arms. Kairi's arm had twitched slightly from the coldness the substance carried, and Riku somehow had grown accustom to it all.

From the earth that covered the grounds of Second District a dark matter formed mysteriously out of no where. The citizens paid no attention as the Heartless started to jump out from the shadows.

"This way!" Yuffie said directing the people away from the Heartless. Cloud and Leon brought out their weapons and started to slash their weapons at the nearby Heartless that came out.

"Look out!" Tachigami instructed, slashing away at two Heartless that popped out in back of Aerith. The flower maiden thanked her, and noticed that there were more Heartless than before.

"Amaterasu!" Aerith noticed the body that came out from the dark portal, but at that point she felt something crept up on her, and Aerith recited a Blizzard spell on the enemy. She ran down the path and dodged a couple of Heartless with a bit of difficulty.

Yuffie waited for the last person to run through the door, but at that point a Heartless caught her off guard and she had no choice but to defend herself with her giant shuriken. Moegami turned his head slightly as he heard Yomigami curse loudly. His brother's right arm was bleeding, and he slashed wildly at the Heartless blocking his path towards his big brother.

Amaterasu cursed mentally at the fact of what she was wearing, the good thing was that the girl had gym shorts underneath the skirt. She tossed the fabric aside and took off her shoes. Kairi and Sora were already ahead of her, slashing at a couple of Heartless that threatened one another.

Riku brought out his Keyblade and dashed off in a straight line helping Kairi fight off some of the Heartless with ease. Amaterasu brought out both of her Keyblades, and noticed at that point Gekigami came crashing down from a nearby rooftop.

"What the hell?!" Tachigami yelled out madly noticing her brother fall. She threw her Keyblade at one of the nearby Heartless. Amaterasu had made a made dash to her brother's aid nearly tripping over a fallen Heartless in the process.

"Up…" Gekigami managed to mutter out to his younger sister. She looked up noticing a tail of some sort whip past the ledge of the building.

Kazegami managed to get heal Gekigami's wounds, and climbed the ledge with Amaterasu. From up on the rooftop everyone looked like the size of beach balls. A deafening roar came from in back of them and the two of them turned around slowly. Amaterasu was knocked down by her brother in order to save the both of them from a hit.

The Heartless had a long tail with barbs on the end of it with a menacing face. It had a strange looking opening because blobs of black spit would drool down the sides of its mouth, it looked like a humanoid looking monkey.

"That's one ugly son of-" Kazegami was pulled to the side as the tail came crashing down smashing pieces of tile everywhere.

From below the Heartless were starting to fall back and Sora noticed the fountain Kazegami was talking about earlier. The keyhole he had sealed up some time ago had a dark aura crawling into it, that's where the Heartless decided to go.

Riku's eyes scanned the area for a moment and noticed Amaterasu and Kazegami weren't there. He saw Yuffie throwing her giant shuriken as Kairi yelled out magic spells. He blocked an on coming attack from behind, and kicked the enemy back. He noticed something on the rooftop, and he felt his eyes widen a bit.

**r i k u **

I broke my concentration for a second when I noticed she was up there, and that Heartless on the rooftop was really thrashing about. I dodged an oncoming attack from the side and hit the Heartless with enough force to make it fall down.

Kairi yelled out a Cure spell on Cloud and Leon who had gotten roughed up pretty badly, and Yuffie was protecting Aerith as she said her spells. Tachigami and the others were helping Sora fight off the Heartless that were trying to go into the keyhole.

'_Bring the bigger guy down and the others will disappear…_' I thought to myself running towards the building. I ran up the side of the building, but as I reached the halfway mark I noticed two people jump down.

My gaze traveled to theirs, and everything seemed to go in slow motion. She smiled at me slightly and descended back down to the ground with her brother. At that point the monkey like creature jumped down in my direction.

"Reflectga!" someone shouted out.

I remember a crystal like ball form around me as the Heartless was approaching me as I fell down.

As soon as I collided with the ground I looked up, still protected within the shield, the Heartless was trying to scratch the barrier down. The barrier broke down, it sounded like glass was being shattered into a million pieces. The Heartless was flung back as a Keyblade got a clear shot of it in the face, and it growled in agony.

Amaterasu and Sora faced off against the Heartless, jumping into the air performing a combo attack. Sora hovered in the air pointing his Keyblade at the Heartless and a white light formed around the wrist and legs of the Heartless chaining it to the ground.

Amaterasu withdrew her Keyblade as she was approaching the Heartless from the air, placing her hand to over her heart a ball of dark energy mixed with purple and red formed over her hand.

The Heartless opened its mouth in protest, and that's where the dark energy was placed, Amaterasu brought the Heartless down with her hand, and within moments its body twitched and soon it melted away.

She was the one who had placed the Reflect spell on me, that was her voice. I thanked her silently as I returned a small smile when she looked at me. Sora looked back at the Keyhole and we all walked over to it. Gekigami followed behind as Aerith was tending to a fresh wound he had received.

** a m a t e r a s u **

I looked back at Sora as he placed his Keyblade over the keyhole. I told him that there was a memory within the dark part of the world's heart and he asked me how he should get it. I told him to just draw the darkness out with his Keyblade.

He placed both hands on his weapon and within a matter of moments a ball of pure darkness hovered his Keyblade. He opened his eyes and looked back at the others not once letting his hands go of the Keyblade.

I walked over and placed a hand over the Keyblade catching the ball of darkness. It was the same as last time, a lot of memories were stored in here, memories of everything that happened in this world, even the recent memory of the festival.

I smiled slightly at the warm memories that entered my artificial heart. I closed my eyes and pulled out the necessary memory I was looking for, a small black sphere fell out and with that the dark ball shattered, retuning back to the keyhole.

"Is that what you were looking for?" Sora asked picking up the black orb.

Inside the orb dark blobs were moving about. It would be a while before the memory would even become clear. It had been in there for so long.

I told everyone that Cid would be able to get the vision from the orb, which would be a lot clearer rather than having it done by anyone else. With that our little trip to Traverse Town was done with. The gummi ride back to Radiant Gardens was really quiet.

I closed my eyes and winced slightly at a cut on my leg. Speaking of which I did remember to get the skirt and shoes I left back in Second District, the same can't be said for the guitar Riku left behind in the park. I'm sure it's still there, I have a good feeling it's still there, or at least I'm hoping it's still there for Riku's sake.

Riku and me aren't talking which started since I decided to show them that memory. I'm still kind of upset about it, but he probably does have a reason to not speak to me, but I'm not sure it's a very logical reason, but you know what, I'm going to respect it.

Still a part of me wants to know what's wrong with him, why is he upset at me. Is it because of Xehanort? And if it is, why?

I know Xehanort was an enemy of theirs, but the Xehanort from **my** memory was a completely different one from theirs, both physically and possibly emotionally. All this thinking was getting me nowhere, and I opened my eyes to gaze at the black sphere within it was just one of the memories Xehanort before he lost them.

'_That's funny knowing I've walked the same streets as my friend. I wonder what he did before he had to fight. I guess he hung out with his friends, I really wish it could've stayed that way,_' I looked to the side for a moment staring out at the view of stars.

Music from an mp3 player caught my attention, Riku ahd his eyes closed and was absorbed into the sound the little headphones played out. I sighed heavily, wishing to get up from my chair. I just felt my heart sink each time I was near him, and it was annoying me pretty bad.

_"It's a slow song, come on it'll be fun." The young teenager said. He pulled me up to my feet as I was sitting on a bench. _

_"Xehanort, I really don't think we should…" I said looking at the area we were in. "I'm not a big crowd person." _

_"Then just pretend no one's here." He said somehow taking me deeper into the crowd. "Just trust me, all right?" _

_"I have a feeling this is going to be burned into me brain," I said exaggerating the last word. _

_"Stop complaining, Ammi," back then he was the only person who called me that sometimes. "It's your day off and you're going to spend it dancing." _

_"My feet are going to…" the only thing I could remember was something soft brush up against my lips, and it was a feeling I knew I would never forget. _

_"You like it? It's sea-salt ice-cream." Xehanort said sticking the Popsicle in my mouth. _

_I tried to talk, but that thing was in my mouth. He laughed at the face I was making feeling the cold touch my teeth. He waved a finger at me and I took the handle of the Popsicle, and smiled slightly. _

_"It's good…" I said still trying to let the cold sink in. _

_"You should have seen the look on your face!" he said his blue eyes seemed to be dancing full of life. "Besides **you** said you've never had sea-salt ice-cream so I thought I'd give you some." _

_"You didn't have to stick it in my mouth!" I said waving the Popsicle dangerously close to his face. "Next time offer it to me, okay?" _

_"All right then… Now come on let's go dance all right?" _

_"Do we get more ice-cream after this?" _

_"Do you always think with your stomach?" Xehanort said laughing at me. _

_"Hey!" I said pouting before putting the Popsicle back in my mouth. _

That was the primary time I ate sea-salt ice-cream, I blame him for my addiction to that type of ice-cream. Well, I don't blame _him_, he's just the reason I _love_ that ice-cream.

**Current scene… **

Amaterasu sighed heavily for a moment and Riku's turquoise eyes locked onto her dark eyes, and there was silence. She broke away from his gaze and continued to looks back at the stars that were outside the window. Riku put the mp3 players away and sighed softly catching one last glance at the girl.

From what he could tell she seemed to be lost in thought, and his thoughts went back to Xehanort. He sighed in annoyance and looked away from the girl again. He wanted to talk to her, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Riku closed his eyes and lost himself in the darkness that surrounded his heart. A figure materialized within his conscience, it was the Heartless form of Xehanort, not the one Amaterasu had known.

_"Do you know her?"_ he asked the Heartless.

_'Boy, why would it matter to you?'_

_"Just answer, yes or no." _he said starting to get annoyed with the figment of his imagination.

_'I don't, is that all you want?'_

_"What do you mean you don't know her?!" _he asked furiously. _"She knows you! She was your friend!" _

_'You're referring to back then…'_ the Heartless said closing his eyes for a moment. _'I don't remember anything from that time. Maybe that other one does…' _

_"What other one?"_ the boy asked.

_'Xemnas… I think that was his name.' _

_"He's been defeated…"_ Riku said feeling as though his only chance had slipped away. _"But maybe you have some things I'm looking for." _

_'The only thing I can give you is my darkness, and you reject it.' _

_"Not this time…"_ the boy said confidently. _"I'll use it, but to gain my own personal satisfaction." _

_'Is it for that girl?'_ the Heartless asked snickering at him. _'Do you even know if she loves you?' _

_"I know we're good friends." _

_'Or is she only friends with you because you remind her of him? _

_"What? Are you calling our friendship a lie?" _

_'Not exactly, just remember the darkness will do anything to keep you there…'_

Riku opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling of the ship. His own mind was telling him to go back to the darkness, to make her happy, but in his heart he knew that wasn't the answer. He looked at the black sphere in her hands.

He was very curious to find out about the memory locked within the little ball. Riku wanted to ask her what she thought was in there, but she probably wasn't in the mood to talk to him.

"You want some ice-cream after this?" she asked him looking back at the silver haired teen slightly.

Riku looked at her for a moment, "Ice-cream won't solve our problem…"

"I know that." She said cutting him off in a rather annoyed tone. "It would've been better if I kept my mouth shut…" and with that Amaterasu looked away from the boy again.

"Why'd I open my big mouth?" The boy muttered to himself looking back at the ceiling of the gummi ship.

**A/N: You know what to do _1 _review. **


	15. Twilight Town

**A/N: Thanks **tootsiepopgurl **I fixed it though so don't worry. **

**Thanks **DJ Diddy Dog**! For some reason to me I find it easy to write stuff like that… Yeah it sounds weird, but hey… **

**Thanks** Princess Kaira of Mirana** I appreciate your review a lot. Well now thank goodness I got to the dark and serious parts of the whole thing! **

**On with the story...**

**Chapter Fifteen: ****Twilight** **Town**

"How long will it be before they come back for us?" Kairi asked walking along the streets of Twilight Town.

Amaterasu shook her head, not sure when they'd be back for them. Sora and Riku had gone off somewhere, probably to look for any Heartless or Nobodies. Tachigami figured it would be better if they look for more memory spheres of Xehanort, and they took the one they found in Traverse Town to Radiant Gardens, leaving the four teens stranded in Twilight Town.

Each memory was precious so as not to repeat mistakes from the past.

The two teenage girls decided to walk around the shopping district of the town. They passed a Moogle synthesis and something caught Amaterasu's eyes. She looked at the item on display and motioned to Kairi to look at the item.

It was a thick banded ring with black and blue swirls decorating it. In the middle was a small emblem of a heart etched into it. Kairi admired the workmanship of the ring and asked Amaterasu if she was going to buy it.

"Yeah, I think so…" she said smiling slightly. "It's about 1,500 munny, I have more than enough."

"Hey you should buy one for Riku too, have it to match your guys' friendship necklace." The red haired girl suggested smiling slightly.

Amaterasu thought about it for a moment and smiled at the thought, she nodded in agreement and the two of them walked into the Moogle's shop. There were a lot of items of value in there, from anklets to staffs.

"Oh yeah!" Kairi remembered something. She pulled out small pieces of parchment from the little bag that hung at her side. "I have some Moogle recipes." She handed them to the Moogle that was behind the counter.

Amaterasu looked at the little bag that hung around her shoulder she searched for some the recipes she had acquired. She also handed them to the Moogle and they kept browsing around the little shop until the text recipes had been translated.

"Look!" Amaterasu pointed out to a Keyblade picture. "That's Star Seeker!" she said feeling like a little kid in a candy store. "King Mickey use to have that!" she said rambling on about the weapon for a moment. "Yen Sid gave that to him a LONG time ago…"

The Moogle called the two girls and they each looked at their translated lists. Amaterasu had more than enough items and ended up synthesizing everything on her list. Kairi had almost the same amount as Amaterasu, and ended up getting some items out of the recipes.

"The ring on display, I'd like to purchase two of them, please." Amaterasu said motioning to the Moogle the item of interest. The Moogle nodded and placed both rings on the glass counter.

"Wanna put it in a box, kuppo?" the Moogle asked as its little red pompom moved slightly.

"Just one." She said watching the Moogle wrap one ring in a bow with a black and blue bow. With that she paid the Moogle and Kairi bought a necklace that reduced dark attacks by 20 percent.

**Sora and Riku… **

The brunette haired boy and the silver haired boy walked down the area looking around for any Heartless or Nobodies, they found none. This place was peaceful, and Sora doubted the fact that there was a memory sphere in the area.

"You and Ammi haven't been talking since we came here… What's up with you two?" Sora asked looking back at his friend.

Riku frowned slightly trying to enjoy the walk with his best guy friend, but it was no use, at least now it was no use. He thought back to the events that had happened a while back. '_What am I suppose to say the reason we won't talk is because of some dead guy? Yeah that's a real good reason…_' the silver haired teen thought to himself, he still felt Sora's stabbing gaze.

"You know if you won't talk I'll keep looking at you." He said really meaning every word of it.

"People are going to think I broke up with you or something…" Riku said hurriedly.

Sora just raised an eyebrow, slightly confused about his friend's choice of words, it didn't really sink in with him, but he kept on pressing the taller Keyblade wielder again. Riku stayed silent and Sora didn't tear his gaze away from his friend anytime soon.

"Looks, Sora, it's nothing," he said smiling slightly, "so don't worry about it."

"If it's nothing, then why aren't you guys talking?" Sora said getting to close to his friend's face. "Come on, spill it."

"Dude…" Riku pushed Sora away for a bit. "Listen don't worry about it, okay?" he tried to throw Sora off, but it was no use he kept coming back to the same question again. "It's nothing we can't work out, there?"

"I guess so…" Sora said folding his arms over his chest. "You're stubborn, you know that?"

Riku sighed; "I guess so…" he was just glad that Sora was off his back, for now that is.

"You think there's a memory sphere in this place?" Sora asked his friend.

Riku shrugged looking back at Sora for a moment, he looked back at the big clock tower. It read 4:36 PM, and he thought back to a small memory of when he had decided to take hold of the darkness.

_Axel, a member of Organization XIII sat on one of the benches over looking the sunset of __Twilight_ _Town__. Beside him was Naminé, Kairi's nobody, she had a sketch of Roxas and Sora holding hands. _

_Axel's eyes looked quickly at Naminé as if to tell her to go. _

_"He's gone." Axel said in a low voice. _

_"Let's go now." Naminé said clutching her sketch book tightly on her lap. _

_"Just askin'," Axel said making small talk before they left. "You don't have a place to go, do you?" he say Naminé look down when he said that. "You don't have any place to fall back on, do you?" she shook her head sadly. "Such things don't exist for Nobodies like us." _

_Naminé spoke up now looking back at her drawing for a moment. "That's right… There is no place for me. But still… I have some places I want to go, some people I have to see." She said looking back at the red head. _

_He nodded slightly. "Yeah, same here." He looked up and noticed a dark hooded figure, he tensed up a bit and finally spoke to him. "So why don't you just let us go?" he didn't answer. "That old man told you to get rid of us, didn't he?" _

_Naminé gazed up at the hooded figure a bit confused. "He did?" she questioned him. _

_"Just go…" Riku's voice was still recognizable, at least to Kairi's Nobody. _

_"Don't you think you should just finish the job here?" Axel said referring to the instructions Riku had to follow. _

_"I owe you guys." Riku said simply enough. _

_"You do?" Naminé asked honestly. _

_"From Castle Oblivion." Riku said answering the witch's question. _

_"Okay then…" Axel said getting up from the bench and walking away from Riku he stretched out his hand and a dark portal materialized out of thin air. "Thanks." He said looking back at Riku. He looked back at Naminé and then walked through the portal. _

_Naminé bowed her head slightly and stood up for a moment. "Sorry…" she said softly and went after Axel. _

**a m a t e r a s u **

A little ring tone was coming from the little sack I had over my shoulder, and I answered it, it was getting a bit annoying.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Sis…" it was Tachigami's voice. "I keep forgetting how young you sound, like a little kid." She said mimicking my voice. "Anyway Cid said he'll have the sphere ready in about a week or so."

"A week?"

"Yeah well I mean it has been in there for decades or so, the darkness has messed up the visibility of the whole thing."

"Have you heard it?" I asked looking back at Kairi slightly.

"Just a little bit… His voice sounds the same…" I could hear her laugh. "Just thought I'd let you know."

"Anything else?" I asked tapping my foot lightly in annoyance.

"Nope!" she said sounding rather happy. "You having a good time over there?"

"Well, sort of. Sora and…" I paused for a second. "Riku… They've gone out to look for disturbances. You think we'll find a sphere here?"

"Possibly… Remember that town from the archive in the computer? They said it just disappeared one day, it could be this one."

"But this one was created from his memories…"

"You never know, history repeats itself, remember?" she said.

"Yeah, yeah…" I said rolling my eyes for a moment. "Well I'll ask Sora to check again, if it makes you feel better."

"All right then. Be careful okay?" she said in her own caring tone.

"Okay, you too okay?" I said rubbing the back of my head. "Tell the others I miss them."

"Okay, love you!" she said shouting into the receiver.

"Me too…" I said holding the phone away from my ear. She hung up and I clicked the little 'off' button.

Kairi looked a bit tilting her head for a moment, and smiled at me. "What did they say?"

"The sphere'll be ready in a week!" I said almost sounding happy. "We just have to check this place again to see if there's a sphere or not. Tachigami swears that one's in here."

We walked along the area with our newly acquired items and stopped at a place where 'Struggle' tournaments were held. The object of the whole thing was to knock your opponent's colored balls from their grasp and take as many as you could. The time limit I think was two minutes, or so.

"What was _he_ like?" Kairi asked as she bought a Popsicle from a nearby stand.

"Xehanort?" I asked buying a mango flavored Popsicle.

"Yeah." Kairi said nodding at me. "I'm kind of interested about him now…" she said not really sure how to say it.

"I wish someone else was…" I muttered to myself. Kairi asked me what I had said. "He was a lot of different stuff!" I said hurriedly making it rhyme a bit with my last phrase. "In a way Riku sort of reminds me of him…" I said softly watching the mango Popsicle drip a bit. "History does repeat itself…" I said in a small whisper.

"Anyway…" I cleared my throat sticking the Popsicle in my mouth for a moment. "He was a pretty cool guy."

"Did anything every happen between you two?" Kairi asked arching her eyebrow.

At this point I almost gagged on a piece that I bit off. My eyes got all watery and I shook my head. "Why do people always ask me that?"

"Well I mean it's true…" Kairi said patting my back a bit. "So did you, or not? Hmm?"

"My memories can get a bit fuzzy…" I said rubbing my nose slightly.

"Fine…" Kairi said sighing in defeat. "I won't force it out of you then."

"I win!" I said happily biting another piece of the Popsicle. "Hey can we get another Popsicle after this?"

"You're a walking stomach you know that?" Kairi said looking at me in disbelief. "Shouldn't we go find Sora and Riku now?"

"Yeah…" I sighed throwing the Popsicle stick in the trash can.

**r i k u **

We didn't find anything, but then again we haven't checked out the mansion yet, so maybe it's in there. Sora was talking about something, I just really wasn't paying attention to what it was.

"Riku?"

I heard something in the distance, but it was really faint. Other than that I just kept thinking back to what I told _her_ on the gummi ship. Man do I feel like a jerk…

This is getting me no where, just thinking. I have to do something, or at least try and make it better. I was right, we're going to have to start from scratch now, and I'm not making this any easier. But neither is she, she won't speak to me about him…

Not that I would want her too, but it'd be nice she would confide that with me.

_'And that's why she won't!'_ the Heartless in the back of my heart said, it echoed through out my mind. _'Are you really that dense? Judging by what you've been thinking about you probably are…_'

_"Last time I checked no one asked you!" _

_'Well I am entitled to put my own opinion, considering the fact I'm in your little heart.' _

_"You have any idea how weird that sounds?" _

_'You're the guy talking to a Heartless. Tell me, Riku, does that sound weird?' _

_"Just be quiet, I'm trying to think." _

_'Still confused?'_ it asked smiling in triumph.

_"No…"_ I lied to myself.

_'That's a big lie, boy.' _

_"Can you just go back in there?"_ I asked it hoping it'd leave me alone again for another couple of hours. _"I don't want you popping up when I'm talking to her." _

_'If you ever do…' _

_"Just leave…"_ I growled at it watching the Heartless disappear in a puff of smoke, going back into the depths of my heart.

"Riku?" Sora was shaking me. I blinked slightly and looked up for a moment. "Hey, welcome back from la-la land." He said giving me a goofy smile. "You had me worried there buddy."

"Sorry…" I said shaking my head. "It's really quiet here…" I said looking around the area of the town.

"We still gotta check out that mansion." Sora said checking it off with his finger. "We should probably go and find the girls though."

"They're probably eating Popsicles…" I said. "Amaterasu has an unhealthy obsession with them."

"I wonder why?" he asked walking back from where we came from. I followed after him, wondering the same thing myself.

**Twilight** **Town**** Manor… **

"There's a computer room down in this place…" Sora said guiding everyone through the area. "I don't know if it's useable or not. I hope it is…"

"Oh yeah," Kairi mentioned something. "Cid said the sphere will be ready in at least a week or so, right, Ammi?"

"Yeah…" she said softly walking in back of everyone. Riku was a couple of millimeters in front of her, and she just felt uncomfortable around him now.

Their hearts made no attempt to contact one another, and with each passing step their hearts seemed to break off their chains of friendship with one another. In the end the two of them probably thought that it would be very hard to put the pieces back together.

Still, each one of them would steal glances from the other. With silence they were both probably thinking the same thing, but it was no use they decided to keep their silence around the other.

They all walked into the manor, and it seemed to be pretty old. A lot of things were falling apart and there were some paintings that had rips and tears on their canvas and the wallpaper on some of the rooms were starting to peel off.

Sora led the group up a flight of stairs into the manor's library and looked at the area. It was a regular library now, something in the back of his head told him to walk up to the symbol on the table, and he grabbed a carefully placed crayon and drew the other emblem on there.

Within moments the floor disappeared and the underground are was visible. Amaterasu asked Sora how he did that, and he replied saying that it was just a feeling. She tilted her head slightly and thought nothing of it.

As they went down the flight of stairs she thought back to Sora's file, the one registered in the HBRC database, it said he's Nobody's name was Roxas, and that he had once lived here, this place acted as a haven while Sora was asleep. '_I get it now, Roxas acted that out, not Sora, or well his heart did… This is kind of confusing, sort of anyway…_' she thought.

Riku was in back of her now, and it just made her fidget with her hands even more. She played the ring she had bought, to try and calm her nerves, oh how she hated feeling like this, but still they weren't talking. The box she bought earlier was in her little sack, and she'd give him the item later, if later ever came.

"Here it is!" Sora said pointing to the computer with about ten different screens. "Hey, it's fixed!" he said in disbelief.

"We'll worry about who fixed it later!" Amaterasu said happily. "Maybe we'll get something out of this baby!" she said jumping onto the chair of the computer. She pressed the power button from the electronic device and smiled happily as the screens start to turn on.

"So you think it has the sphere's location?" Kairi asked.

"Maybe the sphere's been uploaded into this…" Amaterasu said typing in 'Chasers' in the computers search engine. It came up with no result, she typed in another name, this one being 'Another'. It came up with nothing. She growled slightly and looked back at the others. "Any ideas?"

"Try the other name." Sora said pulling up another chair to sit next to her.

She typed in 'Xehanort' and it asked for a password. Amaterasu sighed in defeat and shook her head. Riku looked at her slightly and then quickly looked away, he couldn't think up of anything to help her, his mind was scattered.

It asked for two passwords, one was a three character password and the other was a five character letter. She searched the back of her brain and could find a couple of things that would fit it.

"Ice-cream!" Sora said wildly, and he typed it in, but it was denied. The others just looked at him, blinking a bit.

"Hmm…" Amaterasu finally spoke up. "Aqu…" she typed it into the three character area, but it was denied. She remembered something else from her memories. "Hey does anyone know a three letter name with 'V'?" she asked.

"Van?" Kairi suggested.

"Ven?" Riku said quietly.

"Vic?" Sora asked rubbing the back of his head.

Amaterasu typed in the second one and it was granted. One down one more to go. The last one was probably Xehanort's other friend, the one with the other armor. He had muttered 'Aqu' but that's as close as he ever got.

"Five letter word with 'a, q, u'?" she asked again.

"Try Aquan…" Riku said speaking up clearly this time.

This was the first time Amaterasu and Riku looked at each directly in the eye. She didn't doubt what he said and she typed it in. The screen turned green, and they heard a whirring noise come from the side of the computer. There was a type of materializing transmitter of some sort, and soon a black sphere came about.

"See I was right, once a Chaser always a Chaser!" someone said stepping out from the second door to the right.

This speaker had honey colored eyes, and looked female, she wore a dark trench coat. "It's been a LONG time, Amaterasu." She said sounding as though if they were old friends. "Tell me how has life been?"

"Who are you?" Sora asked pulling out his Keyblade. Amaterasu didn't look at the figure. She kept looking down at her hands fidgeting with her ring. She was lost in thought for a moment.

"If we fight in here, we might lose the sphere… And it took me FOREVER to get this piece of junk working again…" she pointed to the screen. "It'll break, and we'll lose all the data…" the woman said waving her finger at Sora. "We don't want that happening, do we, Ammi?" she said looking at the girl.

At that point Amaterasu stood up and walked over to pick up the black little object. And at that point she ran out with sphere. "Wha the…?! Hey!" she said chasing after the girl. "Damn it, girl!" she said chasing her up the stairs. "What do you think you're doing?!" she yelled after her as the two of them ran out the door.

"I'm not letting you get his memory!" Amaterasu said running as fast as she could.

"He's dead!" the woman said watching Amaterasu stop in her tracks. Amaterasu turned around slightly and looked down holding the sphere close to her chest.

They were outside the manor, standing with the crumbling pillars that once held beauty.

"I don't care if he is." The girl said softly, almost sounding hurt. "I'm not letting you get this memory, or hurt any of my friends!" she said growling slightly at the woman before her.

"Is that why you ran out here?" the woman asked chuckling. "I'll make sure they pick up your body then…" she said pulling out something that looked like a Keyblade.

"It's not good without a Keychain…" Amaterasu said looking at the stripped weapon. "You want to die like Lucifer did, Leana?" she said revealing the woman's name. Amaterasu unhinged the keychain from her sack and threw it into the air. "I may not have the original Anima or Rapture anymore…"

At that point the Keychain burst into flames and from within the flame a Keyblade by the Name 'One Winged angel' appeared. It had crafted flames as the tip of its blade, and a wing for a keychain. Within moments Leana placed a barrier around the two of them, and Sora and the others managed to rush forward, but were stopped by the see through barrier.

"But I do have this one…" Amaterasu said gripping the handle of the weapon tightly. "Are you ready?"

**A/N: You know what to do _1 _review. Also do you guys have any ideas on what I should do, like with the whole Xehanort/Amaterasu/Riku thing?**


	16. Remembrance

**A/N: Thanks **Princess Kaira of Mirana **my loyal viewer! Oh yeah, RA… Don't worry there will be eventually some RA in here, if I can get these two to start talking again. It'll be a bit hard, but hey, that's what makes it fun, right? Thanks for your tip on Xehanort/Amaterasu/Riku it helped a lot.**

**And a BIG THANK YOU to my readers, thanks you guys! **

**On with the story… **

**Chapter Sixteen: Remembrance **

"That _thing_…" Leana said rushing towards the girl. "Is going to be your down fall!" she said bring her weapon down. Amaterasu blocked the attack with her right arm, since she didn't have enough time to block it with her Keyblade.

She winced in pain and felt her legs were going to collapse from the hit. She had forgotten how strong the woman was, and she had improved a lot during their years apart. Leana jumped back and chuckled, watching Amaterasu's right arm trickle with a visible crimson substance.

"I wonder what _he'd_ say if _he_ saw you like this?" Leana said circling the girl as Amaterasu mimicked her moves.

"Just shut up…" Amaterasu said coldly to her. "You have no right saying that…"

"And I suppose you do?" Leana said throwing her weapon to her. Amaterasu flung the metal object into the air, but Leana gained the upper hand as she jabbed her closed fist into Amaterasu's stomach.

The girl fell back, and at that moment she felt the sphere fall on the ground. She frantically crawled to grab the sphere, and barely dodged an oncoming attack from the woman. Amaterasu twirled her Keyblade around her sending a fire spell around her body, and Lena jumped back.

The girl placed the sphere in her sack and jumped back as Leana's weapon struck the ground. At that point Amaterasu took her chance and dashed forward, with her Keyblade tearing the ground, she brought it up and slammed it down to where Leana was at.

The force from the attack shook the ground a bit, and the others could only watch the event from outside the barrier. Lena's knees bent slightly trying to push the girl off of her, but once Amaterasu decided to give it her all there was no stopping her.

Leana used her free hand and muttered something, and before long a small slab of earth rose up knocking Amaterasu into the air. The girl stared at the blue sky in disbelief, feeling her whole stomach turn upside down. Her weapon was knocked out of her hands.

Leana jumped into the air and brought the girl crashing down with her 'crafted' Keyblade.

**Outside the barrier… **

"Can't this thing break down?!" Kairi yelled out hitting it again with another fire spell. Riku and Sora tried everything possible to break the barrier but it was no use. Whoever this person was had a strong mind to keep this up for so long.

The only thing they could do was watch as their friend fought to protect the sphere and their own lives. At one point Sora blamed himself for not chasing after them earlier. Kairi had yelled out various Cure spells, but it was no use magic was forbidden to enter within the barrier. Riku on the other hand, his heart was going to stop beating all together.

Riku placed a hand on the barrier slamming his palm down in anger.

'_Why is she doing this?_' he thought to himself feeling anger rise up. '_That stupid little sphere, it's his fault!_' he could feel something rise up in his emotions. '_Ammi you idiot, just give her the damn thing!_' Riku said pounding on the barrier again.

He saw her charge at Leana and mimicked a move from earlier that he had once done. She jumped into the air, with her back slightly turned and as she struck she twirled slightly, with full force knocking Leana on her knees.

**A m a t e r a s u **

"Uh…" I moaned out. Leana kicked my stomach, and I feel hard on the ground. My whole body was aching again.

My right arm was still bleeding, and not even a Cure spell of any level could heal it, it was too deep to close. I closed my eyes for a moment and I could hear her laugh a bit. Her footsteps were visible in my line of vision since I was knocked onto the ground.

I could hear faintly my friends calling out my name, but it didn't give the motivational effect to move me again. My eyes moved about the scene and I saw her feet two millimeters away from my face.

She bent down and smiled again, stabbing her poor excuse of a Keyblade dangerously close to my head. I didn't flinch, in fact for a moment I didn't even really care if I died, but it was just for a second.

"Are you even trying?" she asked me plastering a big smile. "_Come on_ Ammi, where's your spirit? Don't tell me it's all gone because that idiot's dead?"

"Shut your face…" I whispered harshly, calling my Keyblade back.

She stood up and stepped on my right arm. I yelled out in pain as the blood started to pour out. I begged her to stop, I begged, and I begged, but doing that just caused more pain. Leana told m that she'd make the pain stop if I gave her the sphere.

"Over my dead body!" I said placing my free palm on the ground and I felt my body turn to liquid. Within a matter of seconds I was a couple of feet away from her and I was able to stand up, panting a bit with my Keyblade at hand again.

"Just give me the little sphere and it'll be all over." Leana said vanishing for a spilt second. I felt her breath on my cheek. "Be a good kid and give the sphere."

I swung my weapon around and heard metal hit metal as she blocked it with no effort. I jumped back and dashed forward. She jumped into the air and threw her weapon towards me.

'_Reflect,_' I thought to myself as a thing barrier formed around me for a spilt second. The weapon hit the ground and I could see the frown on Leana's face. She dashed forward to grab the weapon and at that spilt moment I jabbed my Keyblade between the hilt and guard, locking it into the ground.

She stopped in front of my feet, and moved back at bit.

"Now if it were a real Keyblade, you _could_ call it back…" I said taunting her slightly.

I ran up to her and placed a strong Stop spell on her. She fell backward as I knocked her on the ground, and within moments my Keyblade was right in her face. She growled slightly bringing both knees under my stomach, and kicked me clear off the ground.

**Current scene… **

Leana pinned the girl to the ground, and brought out a dagger from her waist. She held it tightly to the side of the girls throat, letting the blade break a millimeter of skin, just enough to make it bleed.

The other just watched as the battle went on, not really possible to determine a victor. They each seemed to be losing though.

"Move, Ammi!" Riku finally yelled out as loud as he could.

Leana had used the Gravity spell to pin the girl in one spot and took advantage of the whole thing. Her stripped Keyblade was about to impale the girl in the chest. Leana stopped halfway as she noted the color change in the girl's eyes.

Amaterasu grinned slightly and the Gravity spell was terminated, and she ruthlessly froze the woman's weapon, and the ice traveled up to her left arm. Leana exhaled sharply, and her breath could be seen in plain daylight.

The woman tried desperately to move her arm, but it was no use. At that moment the girl had vanished and reappeared in back of the woman. The girl placed a strong grip on the back of Leana's skull.

"You move, and I'll crush it…" Amaterasu said meaning every word of it.

"You'd let your friends see it?" she asked, her voice was faltering.

"No…" she said commanding the darkness in her heart to blacken the barrier around them. "But now I can…" she said smiling at Leana. "You want me to freeze you first? Or just go straight for the kill?"

"Ruthless bitch…" she yelled out at the girl struggling to break free from her grip. At that moment Leana's right arm was dislocated by the ex-members own hands. She screamed in pain as Amaterasu let her go.

"It's a present for Gabriel…" Amaterasu said feeling the darkness go back into her heart. "Hopefully you can get back in one piece…" she said giving her a big smile.

At that point Leana's barrier broke, and she disappeared into a dark portal, but the girl made no effort in following her, she was too tired, and her arm was starting to go numb. The Keyblade went back into the shape of its keychain and secured itself back into place along side Amaterasu's little sack.

'_I can't stand up anymore…_' she thought panting heavily, feeling a weight crush her heart for a moment. '_My arm's going numb, aw crap…_' hers knees hit the ground and she looked back at her friends, her vision started to go in and out. At one point she heard Xehanort's voice, but that was just a figment of her imagination.

"Kairi, wrap up her arm…" Sora said placing Amaterasu on the ground gently. "Riku, do you have any Elixirs on you?" he said frantically. Riku gave him one, and Sora placed the open bottle on her lips. "Come on…" he said pleading for everything to be all right.

**R i k u **

We're back here in Radiant Gardens and I'm glad. It seemed like an eternity back in Twilight Town. Amaterasu still hasn't woken up, and my heart's been in constant pain. I don't know what to do, and I'm starting to regret the things I've been thinking about.

They had to put here in a hospital since the wound on her arm was too deep for a Cure spell. There were bruises on her back, and a slight bruise on her stomach. She had a couple of scratches on her cheek when she collided with the ground.

I'm sitting here in the infirmary room with her. I snuck in since visiting hours were only for family members at this point, that and because I feel that her whole family is furious with me at this point.

I sighed heavily and watched her for a moment. I couldn't take it, just watching her like this. I'm sure that if Xehanort was alive, the one she knew, he'd be in my shoes, or so I assume.

"Why didn't you just give her the sphere…?" I whispered holding onto her left hand. "I know it means a lot to you… And I know it's going to help us, but… You didn't have to do that…" I said looking down at the white tiles of the room.

Her hand felt warm, and she squeezed back reassuringly.

At one point I remembered the woman had stepped on her arm, and I was afraid it was going to get infected. With the right antibiotics and stitching it would get better.

_"I should have protected her…"_

_'That's right you should have…'_ the Heartless said in a rather annoyed tone. _'If the other one saw you he'd be furious, he'd mostly kill you…'_

_"I know that…"_ I said sighing for a moment.

"Just wanted…" her voice was low, "To keep you all safe…"

Her breathing was slow and I could somehow feel her heartbeat in synch with mines. She didn't say anything after that. I could hear voices outside the door and I looked around for a place to hide in, but I couldn't find one in time.

The door opened and Yomigami and Aerith stopped at the foot of the door. Aerith greeted me with a rather heartbreaking smiled, but Yomigami didn't make any eye contact with me.

"How is she?" Yomigami asked in a rather caring tone.

"She's okay…" I said not really sure how to say it. "They fixed her arm…" I said looking back at the bandaged arm. "And we're supposed to give her some antibiotics."

"You want us to come back later?" Yomigami asked looking back at his sister and then to me.

"No," I said standing up from my chair. "I've stayed too long here…" I said bowing to both of them and exited the room.

It's been about a week since that day, and our friendship hasn't gotten any better, if anything it's still the same. I've been avoiding her. I'm still feeling guilty about it all. I know that it's not really my fault, but I still could've done more. I know I could have done more.

We're still waiting for the other sphere so that all of us could see them together.

**HBRC Conference Room… **

"Cid you genius!" Tachigami said hugging the older man. "Ha-ha! This is great, it's amazing!" she said jumping up and down in delight. "Finally we can see the sphere!" she said twirling.

Amaterasu and the other siblings, including Reeve, just felt a sweat drop fall down their cheeks in embarrassment. Cid cleared his throat calling Tachigami a crazy old bat. He turned on a microphone.

"Hey! Get your ass up to the conference room!" he ordered the rest of gang as his voice traveled to different rooms.

Within a couple of minutes or so everyone else started to enter the room. Cid placed the sphere acquired from Traverse Town on a little machine, and a computer scanned its contents.

"You'll ready?" Cid asked looking at everyone.

The others nodded and within moments the room went dark. At that point Traverse Town became a real life projection in the room. People were moving about, but it wasn't real, just bits and pieces of data.

Yuffie jumped slightly bumping into Leon, and she rubbed the back of her head. This was Traverse Town about twenty years or so, everything sort of looked the same, but the Moogles hadn't come to that world yet so there were no little red pompoms floating about.

They all watched as three figures came through the front gate of that world. A young teenager with blond messy hair, and blue eyes stepped out first.

"That's Roxas!" The others said in disbelief.

"But that's…" Sora tried really hard to wrap the whole thing around his mind.

Another girl walked out after, she had blue eyes and matching hair, with an earring that had a yellow feather on it. She was a bit taller than the Roxas look alike. She looked back at the gate and called out after another person.

"Xehanort, come on out!" the Roxas looking boy said.

Amaterasu felt shivers run down her spine when she saw him step out of the gate. He had looked the same as when she first met him. His light skin, blue eyes, and brown hadn't changed at all. All three of them were wearing civilian clothing.

"Did we really have to come here?" the teenager asked, he was obviously about an inch taller than the girl.

"Don't look at me…" the girl said shaking her head. "It was all Ven's idea…" she said pointing out to the Roxas looking boy.

"We need to restock on supplies…" the boy named Ven said. "Plus if I remember correctly Xehanort was complaining about a rest stop."

"…" Xehanort messed up Ven's hair and laughed a bit. "You know I keep forgetting how short you are…"

"Are you guys going to start this again?" the girl said putting both hands on her hip.

"Sorry Aquan…" the two both said giving a big smile to the girl.

"Besides… We have to worry about the Keyblade Master… Did you see how strong that guy was?!" Aquan said using her hands to explain it all. "That was gigantic!" she said describing the magic the Keyblade Master had used. "He's really dangerous…"

"I thought guys like him were supposed to be good guys…" Ven said walking down the street of Traverse Town with his friends.

"If you paid attention to the reports, you would have known that they can be bad too…" Xehanort said poking his buddy's forehead.

"Can we even beat that guy?" Aquan asked looking back at the two males.

"I think so." Ven said placing his hands over his head. "Now let's go get something to eat!"

"You're a walking stomach…" Aquan said rolling her eyes at Ven.

At that point Xehanort stopped walking and looked in back of him. A figure with a black and red tight skin suit approached them.

"We've got company…" Xehanort said pulling out his Keyblade.

Aquan and Ven pulled out their weapon and turned around to face the figure. The figure chuckled slightly, and that point the sound of metal and Blizzard spells could be heard. Aquan was thrown into the air by the figure, and Ven managed to knock the person down to the ground. Xehanort placed an Aero spell to keep Aquan from hitting the ground.

"Don't you take a break?!" Ven said blocking an attack from the figure, obviously it didn't take breaks.

"It stops right there…" Cid said as the sphere stopped at that scene in time.

"At one time the Keyblade was said to bring destruction…" Reeve said looking back at the others. "And with these spheres, we can stop from making those same mistakes."

**A m a t e r a s u **

The other sphere from Twilight Town had the same thing from Traverse Town. The three of them were being chased by that figure in black and red. They had managed to drive it back, but Xehanort had gotten knocked out in the process.

I had left the meeting after that and I ended up coming to the ravine to clear my thoughts. Riku and I still weren't talking, but I suppose it's for the better for right now. With what had happened a week ago I would most likely have done something similar.

I sighed for a moment leaning against the wall watching the colorful gems sparkle in the darkness. It's moments like this that make it all the worth while to be alone sometimes, and yet I wish it wasn't like that at all.

My arm does hurt still, so I've had to take some pain killers for it, they don't taste all that great, and I really hate swallowing pills. My back still hurts a little and I just made the pain worse by leaning against one of the ravine walls.

"Maybe I should just go back with Gabriel and Leana…" I said quietly to myself. "I can try and keep everyone out of harms way." I shook my head. "I can't do that…" I sighed heavily.

'_You have no idea how much I miss you…_' I thought to myself looking up at the ravine's covering. I was trying to imagine the sky overhead, but all that popped up was Xehanort's smile.

I slumped down and sat on the ground bring my knees up and wrapping my arms around them. The ravine was very majestic, and I was glad I was alone for right now. I could lose myself in old memories and no one would ever know.

_"Hey…" I said smiling slightly at the teenager. He looked up and gave me a small smile. He offered me a spot on the bench. "How have you been?" _

_"I've been doing all right." He said his blue eyes full of joy. "How was your trip?" _

_"Okay…" I sighed heavily leaning against the wooden bench. "My arms are SO sore!" I said complaining about the cramp space in the gummi ship. "It was me, Yomigami, Leana, Lucifer, and Gabriel, in a ship that only fits three…" _

_Xehanort laughed as I explained the cramp condition of the ship. He placed a hand on my head, and messed up my hair. I pouted slightly and tried to fix my hair back in place, the sleeve on my sweater was pulled back, and I large white cloth was wrapped around my right arm. _

_Xehanort eyed the cloth carefully, noticing that the bloodstains were still fresh. I pulled the sleeve down and looked away shifting my eyes back from the ground to him. _

_"I got cocky…" I said rubbing my right shoulder. "And Lucifer ended up busting me out…" I looked up at him for a moment. "I didn't want to tell you… so then you wouldn't end up worrying about me when I would leave again…" _

_He just sighed again and rubbed the back of his head. "I do worry…" Xehanort said looking at me for a moment. "It's human nature, right?" _

_"That's right, Neo…" I covered my mouth after the last word. "I'm sorry! I promised you I wouldn't call you that anymore…" _

I placed my forehead to rest gently against my knees, and I felt a slight tingling sensation on my lips, I knew I was blushing at this point. The feeling left me, and a couple of tears slid down my cheek, and I closed my eyes tightly.

I see you in him so much Riku, you have no idea how much it pains me now. I know that the chains in our friendship are lost within the depths of our hearts again, but I know we can make it work.

_"No matter what we'll always be together, okay?" _

_"I promise…" Xehanort said giving me a sincere smile. _

**R i k u **

'_There she is…_' I thought to myself. She was sitting in the ravine. Yomigami was right this is where she had gone after the meeting. I stepped into the area and the colorful gems seemed to shimmer with each step I took.

"Ammi…" I called out to her. She didn't look up.

I sighed heavily and ended up sitting next to her. I could hear her sobbing, but I didn't know what to do now. I could hear her whimper in pain as she continued to sob. If I put my arm around her I'd just end up hurting her again, her back was bruised, I remember that much.

"Amaterasu…" I said softly looking some of the strands of hair that fell over her knees.

Amaterasu raised her head slightly and looked at me with watery eyes. She closed them again and let the tears fall again.

She sighed and spoke in a small voice, clearing her throat. "You're talking to me again?"

"Does it bother you?" I asked her in a soft tone. She shook her head.

"I know you're still mad at me…" she said, and with that I looked down at the ground.

I still was, but not at her, just at a memory. "It's okay if you are… but I really wish you'd talk to me about it…"

"I'm not mad at you…" I said looking back at her for a moment.

"Then…" she looked away from me, "Why won't you talk to me?"

"It's… complicated…" I said. That was the only thing I could say.

"That's a stupid reason." She said sinking her head back down to her knees.

I sighed and rested my head against the ravine wall for a moment. "Why didn't you tell me that you knew Xehanort earlier?"

"I was afraid…" she whispered. "I was afraid something like this might happen… I guess it doesn't matter now, since all of you know about it. Maybe I should've said something sooner, but I was afraid of how you'd all act. To be honest I didn't want to tell you about him…"

"Then, why?" I asked her.

"That's what friends do, right?" she said looking down at the ground for a moment. "To be honest Riku, a part of me still misses him…"

"Amaterasu… You have to let it go…" I said feeling my body tense up for a moment. "A dead person doesn't want someone to grieve over them for a long period of time. They would want them to be happy."

To be honest Amaterasu, I would do anything to see you smile again. Xehanort would do the same thing. I don't really know what you guys did together, but I remember how much you use to smile when the two of us would hang out together.

"I think, given the current situation, happiness won't come that easily." Amaterasu said staring at the ground.

**A/N: You know what to do _1_ review please!**


	17. Out of Form

**A/N: Thanks **DJ Diddy Dog**!  
And a special thanks to the readers! I love all of you guys!**

**On with the story...**

**Chapter Seventeen: Out of Form**

Riku sighed for a moment and looked up at the ceiling of the plain colored room. '_It's been three days…_' he thought to himself as he moped. '_I'm not really in the mood to do anything…_'

He turned over in his bed and decided the next best thing was to sleep again. Just as he had gotten comfortable he heard a loud knock on his door. He growled in frustration and stood up to answer the door.

"Riku!" Sora said smiling at his friend. "Whoa… You've got bed hair…" the brunette said pointing at the messy silver hair.

"You know what time it is?" Riku said yawning.

"Yeah it's noon." Sora said nodding to himself reassuringly.

And with that last word Riku slammed the door leaving the young Keyblade wielder with a shocked look on his face. He told the blue eyed boy not to disturb him, and he could hear Sora mutter something as he left, it was something about training.

He slipped back under the covers and rested his head against the light colored pillow. He closed his eyes and sighed enjoying the silence that fell on him.

'_I'm not sleepy… Just don't feel like getting up… I might as well sleep some more._'

Riku turned over again trying to go to sleep once more, but he couldn't now. Sora had scared off his sleepy mood. He yawned loudly, but still stayed under the covers. '_I wonder what she's doing right now._' Riku thought for a moment before frowning. '_Him…_' he thought, not wanting to mention his name.

_'You're jealous of a dead guy…'_ the Heartless said laughing at Riku's flaw.

_"That's the sad part."_ He sighed looking at Xehanort the Heartless. _"Surprisingly I wish he were alive." _

_'Again, it's because of her. I keep telling you but do you listen? No, of course you don't… Why the hell am I giving you advice on this…? I'm going soft.' _

With that the Heartless went back into the far corner of his heart. Riku sighed slightly burying himself deeper within the blanket and listened to people walk down the hall outside of his room.

**Traverse** **Town****… **

"She did a number on you Leana!" Gabriel said again for the fifth time laughing at the woman wearing a cast. "I wish I had been there to see that fight."

"Oh shut up!" Leana said punching Gabriel with her good arm. "I'd like to see _you_ fight her when that little black heart shoes up."

"She really froze your arm and weapon?" Gabriel asked stopping her from crossing the street. Leana growled slightly and pushed Gabriel's hand away from her. "Hey come on, I mean… Was she really that strong? Hey… Leana…" he said chasing her down the street.

"Just shut it… My goodness… Yes, she did. I could've killed her if she didn't tap into the artificial heart at that moment… I'll get her next time." She said turning her head to look at the brown messy hair.

"There won't be a next time for you… You're out of commission until your arm's fixed." Gabriel's purple eyes stared at the cast for a moment. "Which mean I'll get to have some fun this time. By now, Yomigami knows we're still alive too."

"…" Leana rolled her eyes at the mention of the others name. "It's sad, but I feel just a little bit bad about doing this… Still if we want to bring back _him_ back we've got to steal those spheres…"

"Let's hit 'em where it hurts them both then." Gabriel said forming a malevolent smile.

Leana arched an eyebrow noticing the look on her partners face. She blinked in confusion.

"What's the one thing most important to them?" Gabriel asked the honey eyed female.

"Their family?" Leana said pushing back her brown hair.

"Exactly…"

"When?" Leana asked looking at the purple eyes of her partner.

"How about right now?" he said stretching out his hand. "You want call out the Heartless to Radiant Garden?"

**Radiant** **Garden****… **

"Amaterasu. Get. UP!" Tachigami said trying desperately to pry the covers off her young sister. "Come on, it's 1 o'clock in the afternoon! Get up!" she said amazed at the strength Amaterasu had.

"NO!" the young one said burying herself deeper into the covers. She held on tighter to the covers closing her eyes tightly. "Just go…" she said.

"Wake up!" Moegami said knocking loudly on the wall. He was in the other room.

Tachigami managed to sweep the covers off of her in a rapid motion, and Amaterasu covered her face with a pillow. The older sister sighed and sat on the bed.

Amaterasu heard the bed creak at the rising number of weight added on to the sleeping item. She muttered out lowly to Tachigami that she was getting fat, but the 19 year old said nothing.

"Is she awake?!" the twins asked. Kazegami was knocking on the wall this time.

"Yes!" Tachigami hollered back.

Amaterasu tried to block out the noise coming from her family, but it was to no avail. She couldn't ignore the noise even if she wanted to, because she would miss the talking she called 'noise'.

"It's been three days…" Tachigami said pulling the pillow away from Amaterasu's face. "Get some fresh air, or outside or something… Take a shower…"

"I took a shower today in the morning…" she said covering her eyes with her arms. "Just leave me alone, okay?"

"Suit yourself… But you're going to have to talk to him someday…"

"No one asked you…" Amaterasu said at the same time as her older sister was speaking.

With that Tachigami closed the door to her room, leaving the girl alone, without any covers. She mumbled again looking up at the beige ceiling.

"Are you awake?" it was Gekigami's voice.

"Yeah…" she answered.

"Are you decent?' he asked.

She looked down at to what she was wearing, navy gym shorts and a black t-shirt. "Yes…" she said looking at the door to her room. Gekigami stepped through the doorway. His hair looked horrible, it was messy with the back part looking like a afro of some sort.

"Yomigami's worried about you, ya know?" he said sitting next to her.

Amaterasu breathed in for a moment, and exhaled slowly. She nodded and turned over on her side, away from her second big brother.

"Listen… He's pissed off at the fact you fought Leana on your own. What were you thinking?!" he whispered.

"…I wanted to protect the sphere, and them." She said fixing her gaze on an empty flower vase by the nightstand.

"Fine, just next time…" Gekigami placed a gentle hand on her head, "don't go off doing things on your own, okay? That heart won't work every time… Anyway I hope you didn't forget today's the day those three start their training…"

"Ugh… See now I don't want to get up…"

**R i k u **

It was an arena of some sort with pillars from old buildings scattered about. In the distance was an old decaying chapel, and a paopu tree could be seen through one of the window openings.

"All right then…" Yomigami was wearing black cargo pants and a white shirt. "Today's the day of your first training session."

Amaterasu was standing next to her brother. She was wearing the same thing as he big brother.

"Any questions?" he asked the three of us. Sora rose up his hand, but he had already somehow guessed Sora's question. "No, there aren't any bathroom breaks for the next three hours…"

"All right then, on that note…" Amaterasu stepped forward. "The three of you are going to spar off against the two of us."

"But that's a 3-on-2 match…" Kairi said frowning for a moment. "It's not really fair for you guys."

"We'll deal with what's fair for us…" Yomigami said stretching out both of his hands. Two Keyblade like weapons appeared in mid air before he caught them. "I'll take Sora and Kairi… I like 2-on-1 practices. Ammi, you can take Riku."

From the look on her face my guess would've been Yomigami had picked something else, and changed it at the last minute. Amaterasu nodded slightly and pulled out two Keyblade looking weapons, but they had no keychain. For a moment I thought she was going to pull out the other Keyblade.

"We can use the environment however we please, but we can't go past the chapel…" Amaterasu said pointing her weapon in the direction. "Is that clear?"

We all nodded, and pulled out our Keyblades.

"We won't hold back…" Sora said getting into a defensive stance.

"We ask that you don't hold back…" Yomigami said twirling both of his weapons. "Are you guys ready now?" we all nodded. "One…"

"Two…" Amaterasu said getting ready to move.

"Three!" we all yelled, running forward to our opponent.

**An hour into it… **

Kairi barely had enough time to dodge Yomigami's mid air attack. Sora placed a Reflect spell on her as Yomigami's weapon was within range. She breathed in ready to prepare herself for the pain, but the spell had worked.

Yomigami threw his weapon towards Sora and the boy did a back flip, his leg had missed the weapon by an inch. The blue eyed boy panted heavily, and dashed forward bringing his weapon over his arms.

Yomigami blocked the attack with ease, and then side stepped to the right feeling Kairi's presence in back of him. The two of them weren't a match for the veteran, but they'd eventually read his fight patterns soon enough.

Riku's reflexes had saved him from wiping out on the floor as he used his free hand to push him up, in a sort of one handed flip. Amaterasu sighed for a moment before jumping back at the silver haired teen brought his Keyblade down on the ground.

Amaterasu used her own enhanced reflexes and was able to stand nimbly on the boy's Keyblade. Riku stared at her in disbelief, she was taunting him for a moment, and it was almost near to impossible to move the weapon.

'_How can she stand on it?_' the boy thought to himself as the girl disappeared from his sight. '_Shit!_' he looked in back of him and noticed something lightly touched his back. He knew if it had been a real battle he most likely would've have died at this point.

Riku moved forward, and turned around pointing his weapon at the girl. She made no effort to protect herself, and sighed heavily as she got into a defensive stance.

It was apparent to Sora, Kairi, and Yomigami that the two of them still had some unresolved issues to work. Sora and their team had gone two hours into their spar, and Yomigami had won, since he had managed to unarm Kairi and Sora.

Riku brought his weapon up, and blocked both blades from hitting him. He started to strain under the force as both blades keep hitting his defensive again, and again.

"Funny, she's not even giving it her all…" Yomigami said thinking back to the wounds she had received a while back.

"Are you serious?" Kairi and Sora asked.

Riku brought his weapon down in mid air, and Amaterasu felt confident enough to kick it back. Riku was flung backwards and looked back at her. The girl ran forward with enough speed to catch him off guard, and as a last resort he hid his chest in back of his Keyblade.

Amaterasu's blade cracked and she cursed, disposing of the two weapons. She jumped back and brought out the other Keyblade she had. Riku moved back quickly as he saw the Keyblade being thrown towards him, he pushed it into the air with his Keyblade, and it was just enough to distract him.

Before long Amaterasu knocked him onto the ground, with her weapon dangerously close to his neck. She was breathing heavily, finally pinning him to the ground. Riku had been able to keep his weapon in the air, so that it could be called a draw. She looked at the weapon that was close to her neck.

Riku was breathing heavily, feeling some beads of sweat run down the side of his cheek. He gulped feeling the Keyblade lightly touch his neck. She if had gone any further he wouldn't be alive, at all.

'_She was gong to kill me?!_' he thought to himself trying to scan her eyes for a different answer. '_But it's a draw…_' the boy thought to himself as his weapon lightly touched his opponent's neck.

"Not bad…" she said getting off of him.

Amaterasu winced in pain for a moment as she stretched her arms and legs. Riku sat up feeling his back hurt a bit. '_That's going to hurt in the morning,_' he thought to himself. At this point Sora, Kairi, and Yomigami had gone back into the city.

"For some reason I thought he'd do something like this…" she said helping Riku up.

**R i k u **

The two of us ended up walking back to the city, and boy what a quiet stroll that was. It's killing me, I can't take it. I'm going to go insane if she doesn't talk to me. '_Talk to her you idiot…_' my conscience said. '_Idiot…? …That makes you one too…_' I thought to myself as I walked in back of her.

I was still worried about the fact she still had some bruises on her arms. I asked her if she was okay, and she said as long as she could walk she was fine. '_Talk to her… Hellooooo…? Are you even listening?_' the little voice in my head was saying.

She looked back at me sighed for a moment. I still felt some tension in the air, and that was pretty much just about it. Her body was swaying to the side once in a while, she was tired.

"Ammi…" I picked up that pace and walked alongside her this time. She didn't look to good from where I was standing. "Amaterasu, you don't want to rest?"

"M-M…Maybe…" she said struggling to get the words out of her mouth. I caught her before she fell. "Can you get Yomigami here, please?" she asked me in a soft voice.

"It's getting dark I can't just leave you here…" I placed her arm around my shoulder. I knew she winced in pain, but I didn't want to just leave her there.

"I have another idea then…" she said stretching out her hand. A black portal materialized from out of thin air. "Just carry me on your back…" but that was the last time she spoke to me consciously.

I looked back at the dark portal for a moment and sighed. I didn't know where it would take us, but I knew I could trust her. I looked up at one of the buildings. Cement had broken off on one side of the thing.

Something didn't feel right, and the sooner we got out of here the better. Another small piece broke off as I felt my leg go through the portal. I had forgotten how cold this thing could be.

'_She's pretty heavy…_' I thought to myself as I carried her gently on my back. She was mumbling something, but I just couldn't hear what it was. At that moment I felt my whole body grow cold as I passed through the portal.

There was a bright light at the end and when we passed it, a beige colored bedroom was in full view. I looked around slightly, this was her room. I lay her gently on the bed, and there was an expression of pain on her face. '_Her back still hurts,_' I thought to myself.

On her nightstand was a small bottle of pain killers for the aches on her back. It was still fairly full and I smiled at that fact, she didn't like taking pills at all.

There weren't any clean sheets on her bed, and I didn't want to look through the closet. I'm still kind of paranoid about this one time I had to look for bed covers in Kairi's house. Sora had gotten sick and threw up on her bed, lo and behold who did they ask to get extra sheets? Me. Did I find any? Let's just say I found something I shouldn't have.

Her hand felt cold though, and I didn't have a sweater or anything with me, so I would have to go find some clean sheets. I looked around in this bottom drawer that was attached to the bed and found a pink bed cover.

It's still a bit funny, she didn't like wearing pink, yet she had a pink bed cover. I covered her up, being careful not to hurt her anymore. With that I sat up against the bed, looking back at her as she slept.

"When you dream, do you dream of the past? Do you dream of him? Do you wish that sometimes the dream wouldn't end? Would you sleep forever to not face the pain?" I asked her that watching her turn over in her sleep. I knew it was pointless since Amaterasu couldn't hear me. She was out like a rock. "I really wish you could answer these questions…"

'_I'm jealous of a dead man, and I wish he was never brought up in the first place. I'm pissed at the fact I can't talk to her like I use to. I haven't seen her laugh, or smile, or even get angry. I've seen her cry, but for him…_' I thought to myself closing my eyes.

**Civilian District **

"They're here too?!" Moegami yelled pulling out his weapon. There were Heartless as far as the eye could see. Tachigami grunted under the weight of Heartless on her weapon.

"Where's Sora?!" Kazegami said breathlessly as he stood up leaning against his weapon.

"Stop…" Gekigami said freezing several Heartless in his path. "Didn't' Sora call this meeting here?" he struck his weapon through a couple of frozen Heartless.

Tachigami pulled back Moegami. He was really close to getting his arm bitten off. Kazegami blocked the attack from one of the Heartless.

There were the little Heartless, called 'Shadow' and the other bigger ones, the centaur looking ones. One of the centaur looking ones jabbed his lance forward, and Tachigami blocked it with some strain. Gekigami was thrown back as he had gotten to close to one of the centaurs. The two twins were trying their best to get rid of the smaller Heartless, but it didn't seem to be working.

Tachigami jumped up to one of the rooftops of a house and scouted around the area, Heartless covered about three blocks. '_Someone called them here… But why?_' she jumped back at a flying Heartless was about to tackle her.

In the distance, there were several loud roars from a couple of Behemoths off to the west of the block. '_Something tells me we aren't getting out here alive…_' that's what all four of them were thinking of.

**The old Hollow Bastion castle **

"So then…" Leana winced slightly as she moved her injured arm. "This is where most of _his_ memory spheres are at?"

"Yeah…" Gabriel said looking down at the ground below their feet. "But only Sora can unlock them from that box… The problem is, is that thing's in those damn ruins."

The two of them turned around hearing the Behemoths roar once again. They chuckled slightly and jumped down the ruins of the old building. This was out of form for them, and yet they still did what they had to do. There was no turning back from this point.

These two were close to finding the spheres, but without a key to open the lock what was the point.

What was so precious to them that they had to go and destroy kin from their own ex-members?

A terrible secret would soon come out, and things would be thrown out of form.

For a modern myth of some sort? No, it was for the tale of the sealed truth. Darkness was soon going to overrun this world like it had done in the past nine years ago with Maleficent, but this time the Keyblade's 'Chosen One' would stop it before it was too late. Everything is being thrown out of form for memories…

**A/N: You know what to do _1_ review please.**


	18. Pains

**A/N: Thank you very much you guys, I'm really glad this story has gotten so many hits! Yay! **

**A big thanks to **Not aGeisha Gurl, ashner, Nameless Dragon, and sorasheart281.

**On with the story… **

**Chapter Eighteen: Pains… **

"Kazegami!" 

It's too hard to make out the scene, but it feels heartbreaking. I see lips moving, and metal clashing, but I can't see their faces. Dust is kicking up everywhere, and darkness is starting to advance foreword. People are running, their faces in terror, things are popping out of the shadows.

"We've been set up!" 

"_No_, you think!" 

It sounds really familiar, but what do I know? I'm not able to move, but I can hear their voices now, it's clear. It's my family, but they sound so distance, and their voices are in pain.

"If we don't make it out alive… I want to say thanks you guys… I love you all."

Why is she saying that? Where are they anyway? All I know is that I'm asleep and they're in my dream. Gekigami collapsed onto the floor, moaning in pain as something tore off some skin from his shoulder.

"If we get turned into a Heartless…" 

"One of us has to go back…" 

Why are the twins saying that? What do they mean if they get turned into a Heartless? I want to cry for them but I can't feel anything now.

Again everything has gone mute in the dream, and all I can see is a mixture of blood on the ground and Heartless everywhere.

Civilians are on the floor, people are running down the streets. Mothers using their bodies as shields to protect their children from the Heartless

The only thing echoing in my mind was what I told Riku.

I think, given the current situation, happiness won't come that easily…

"Gekigami, run!"

I can't sense him anywhere in my heart, or the others anymore, but I feel something else now. It's not warm or cold, it's just empty now, and nothing's filling this heart now. I feel cold now.

"Keep running, don't look back, Gekigami!" 

What's going on with you all, why aren't you home? Where's big brother?

And then, everything faded into the darkness.

I sat up from the bed wincing in pain, my back was still hurting. My vision was a bit blurry, but it came back quickly. I saw a mess of silver hair resting against my bed. '_Riku…_' I outstretched my hand to pat his head, but I pulled back and looked at the night stand.

Pink sheets… I looked down at the thing that gave me warmth. He didn't have to do that, but he did. I sighed for a moment and looked outside the window of the room, there were dark clouds looming overhead.

"That's close to the civilian district…" I said to myself. The visions from my dreams came back, and I felt the corner of my mouth twitch.

**Conference Room **

"It's…" the audio transmission was starting to break up. "Heartless… t-…something... othe-…Gone… I'm-…l…eft." The audio was from Gekigami.

Reeve sat in his chair in disbelief, and Yomigami had bolted out of the room in a frenzy, and so did Sora and Kairi. Video was being replayed by local media stations, but soon the video was lost, and the only thing heard was just the audio.

"They're everywhere!" Yomigami said. The transmission was coming in clear from his end. "Sora, use Magnet! Kairi, use a Thunder spell once they're within range!"

Reeve had sent in reinforcement, that being Leon and the others, they were a bit behind, but still doing their best no less.

"Reeve…" Cid said stepping out of the doorway.

"Prepare the defense units again, Cid." Reeve said still facing the blank screen from the conference room.

Just like that three people had lost their hearts to the Heartless. It pained him more because they had watched him and the others grow up while they were still that age. It was still uncertain of who had called the Heartless to this world again.

**Civilian District **

Sora jumped onto the back of one of the Behemoths and crushed the horn on its forehead, knocking it out of a short period of time. Yomigami and Kairi attacked it from the ground, and soon it started to fade away.

A couple of winged Heartless were flying about, and some mage like Heartless were casting Cure spells on their comrades. Sora threw his Keyblade at some airborne enemies, and they fell before the might of the weapon.

Kairi blocked an oncoming attacking from overhead, and performed another Thunder spell. Yomigami placed a Reflect spell on him as a Heartless caught him off guard.

Sora performed Thunder Raid, hurling his Keyblade through a group of Heartless, electricity forming around the weapon. Some that survived the attack had electricity surging around their bodies, paralyzing them. Kairi used her Keyblade and performed a similar attack using a strong Fire spell.

Yomigami was using two weapons at this point, slashing through a group that was advancing toward them. He jumped backwards and cut another Heartless in half. Yomigami's eyes scanned the area, there were too many to handle now.

"We got your back!" he turned around noticing the ninja wearing black. She threw her shuriken at an approaching Heartless.

Aerith placed a strong Magnet spell, and Cloud and Leon took down the Heartless that got caught up in the magic charm.

After that Leon and Cloud were back to back, as soon as one Heartless moved forward the two of them jumped forward, attacking Heartless in their direction.

Aerith used another curing ability, and Yuffie covered her back. Sora and Kairi were side to side, getting ready to attack another Behemoth. As Sora was advancing the Behemoth was falling forward, and Gekigami appeared standing on top of its head. Kairi jumped back and placed an Aero spell for Gekigami to land on.

Sora jumped up and used another Thunder Raid attack to fatally hit the giant Heartless. The ninja threw her shuriken, helping Kairi out in the process. Leon moved forward, his weapon hammering down on the group of Heartless around him.

Yomigami ran to his brother's aid, but Gekigami pushed him aside as a mage status Heartless used a Blizzard spell. He asked where their younger sister was at, and Yomigami said he didn't have a clue.

The huge number in Heartless was starting to dwindle, but that still didn't lessen the pain the two brothers were feeling within their hearts. All of them continued to fight attacking them with airborne weapons, casting spells, and using any other means to push them back.

"I'm going to go find her!" Gekigami yelled out jumping over fallen Heartless.

**Reeve's house **

"Riku, wake up…" Amaterasu said shaking her friend desperately. "Wake up damn it…" she said whispering harshly. She noticed two turquoise eyes look up at her slightly. She stopped shaking him at this point, fearing that his head would snap off if she went further.

"You're awake…" the silver haired teen managed to say rather groggily. "Mornin'…"

Obviously he was still slightly sleepy, you could tell by the drool running down on his cheek.

Something didn't feel right, and it was starting to worry her now. She pulled him up frantically and hurried him out the door, she closed it behind her.

"Where are we-"

"Don't talk, just move!" she said pulling his arm. "Oh…" she paused for a moment. "You've got some drool you might want to get rid of…" she said pointing her friend to the bathroom entrance, and once that was done it was off to go downstairs, and find out what the heck was going on.

Gekigami was standing in the doorway, panting. He looked up noticing Amaterasu walk down the stairs. His heart rose for a moment, and he smiled sadly. The pain in his shoulder was subsiding since he had managed to steal a Hi-Potion from Yuffie when she wasn't looking.

"Geki…" Amaterasu noticed the bloody cloth on her older brother's shoulder.

"Thank the deities you're safe…" he said breathlessly. "You've got to take cover…" he said looking at the two of them. "In…" he breathed in for a moment. "By the area's defense system, you know by the gummi ship area…"

"But…"

"Just go!" Gekigami said sharply. "You're wasting more time." He said having a serious pattern etched into his feature. "Riku, you idiot, if I so much as find a bruise on her, I'm coming after you, got it?"

The boy nodded and grabbed Amaterasu by the hand, walking past the doorway. Gekigami sighed heavily once they were out of sight, and pulled out something from his pants pocket, it was a locket. He held it tightly to his chest, and then placed it back into the pocket from his pants.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered into the air. A ring tone brought him back to reality, and he answered the cell phone that was by the door. "Hello?"

"We're done on this side, Brother…" Yomigami said.

"How'd you know where to find me?"

"Just a guess…" Yomigami said before hanging up.

Gekigami sighed and ran into the kitchen grabbing a washcloth, preparing to clean the wound on his shoulder. '_Aw crap, this is going to hurt really bad…_' he said bracing himself for the pain he was going to have to endure.

**r i k u **

Something was going on, but I just didn't have a clue as to what exactly. I could smell this really familiar scent, but it seemed to be a bit far from here.

Amaterasu was telling me that the best place was to go back to the conference room. I took her word on it, even though Gekigami had told us something differently. At that point I remembered what the scent was.

"Heartless…" I said to myself quietly as we walked down the area. It was pretty quiet now. I looked back at her for a moment. I knew which way the conference room was, so it was my turn to lead her, even though she knew where it was too.

"Something big is going down…" I said softly looking back at her.

"You noticed it too?" she said turning her head back.

At that point I felt the scent get stronger. '_This isn't good, if they find us… Ammi's still in pain, she can't fight like this! OH MY GOD, if Gekigami finds out I'm going to die! AH!_' I started running, pulling her along side me this time.

'_Calm down…_' I thought to myself breathing in for a moment. '_I'm sure everything will be fine…_'

"Company at twelve o'clock!" Amaterasu said pointing straight ahead. "Did you jinx us you idiot!?"

"No, I swear I didn't!" I said letting go of her hand. Wait did I just respond to idiot?

She pulled out her Keyblade, One Winged Angel, and jumped in front of me, getting ready to strike dead ahead. '_Is she trying to get herself killed?!_' I thought to myself.

_"No, she's protecting herself and me…" _I said inwardly to myself.

"Riku!"

I turned around and blocked on oncoming attack from my left. I sighed heavily, and looked back at Amaterasu. She was jumping back a bit, and pretty soon we were back to back now.

"There's a lot of them…" she said breathing heavily, I could feel her body press against my back roughly. She wouldn't be able to hold on anymore.

"Yeah, think we can take them all on?" I said looking out of the corner of my eye.

"You're fighting too?" she said, I know for a fact she was smiling.

"I didn't know you were…You'd better not get hurt, or your brother will kill me…" I said looking straight ahead, with my Keyblade in hand.

Amaterasu laughed slightly as the two of us charged straight ahead, slashing wildly at the Heartless in front of us. This time, I really think we're making some progress, in clearing out the Heartless, and in our friendship.

We haven't completely broken the ice, but just scratched the surface of it all, and that's better than nothing. Within a matter of moments the number of the Heartless was reduced to less than half, which is still pretty amazing considering the fact Amaterasu was still in a bit of pain.

I brought up my weapon, and with a quick move to the side I brought down three Heartless. I looked back at Amaterasu. She was using spells rather than going to close quarters. At one point I felt a cold spell zip past me.

"Are you trying to freeze me!?" I yelled hitting two Heartless in the process.

"You'd…" she placed another Fire spell on a Heartless, "better be thankful, I just saved your fat behind!"

**Sora and the gang **

"We… got… them…" Sora said falling backwards. He stared up at the black clouds that started to form around the area. A gentle green light fell over his body that was a Cure spell. He looked up noticing a worried look on Kairi's face.

"You're arm's bleeding," she said picking up the tired Keyblade wielder.

Yuffie walked over to Yomigami, he was sitting on the ruble of a building lost in the fight. He looked into the distance. His eyes fixed on a spot of a building that was lost because of the damage the Heartless had caused. The civilian district was gone, just like that, and all the hard work the HBRC had put into it seemed all for nothing in his mind.

"Are you okay?" Yuffie asked the oldest Diaz member. He looked at her with his eyes, and went back to scan the ruble. "We're all really upset too…" she said putting her hands behind her back, not really sure of what to say. "Reeve's taking it pretty hard, you guys were like family to us, you know?"

Leon walked over to Yomigami's side and just looked down at the path of destruction the Heartless had left. He had lost friends to the Heartless countless times, and that's what drove him to fight as hard as he could.

"… I don't want Amaterasu to find out…" that's all the oldest brother said.

"I know it's going to be hard on her…" Aerith said overhearing what Yomigami had said. "But she's a strong girl, you know that, and hiding death from her…" she paused as Yomigami stood up and dusted himself off.

"I get you," he said. He looked back at Cloud for a moment who had kept his distance up until this point. "You two take care of each other, okay?" he said teasing the flower maiden and the ex-SOLDIER.

To mask pain with a smile, it was something Yomigami thought he had forgotten to do, but he was wrong. He found himself smiling, even when he knew he was upset, he'd smile to try and make it go away, but he was just lying to himself, probably the others knew, but they smiled at him to try and ease his pain.

Sora and Kairi knew what had happened, and tried to cheer up the ageless teenager. He told them not to worry about him, and they tried their best not to. It was still a hard thing to do, but they respected Yomigami's wish. Gekigami was still alive, but even he must be suffering, having to run away while leaving his siblings to their fate.

"Who do you think is responsible for this…?" Sora asked looking back at the others.

They didn't have an answer this time.

**Hollow Bastion ruins **

"That just great…" Gabriel said hitting the blocked path with enough force to cause his knuckle to break. "We've finally found this damn place, only to have a lock on it!" he started losing it, yelling out at the sky.

Leana looked down at the ground, as Gabriel continued to scream out in rage. They were so close, and somehow the deities had brought them down again. She looked up at the sky and noticed that it was going to rain soon, the skies were starting to turn almost as black as night.

"Let's head back for now," Leana said trying to get Gabriel to calm down from his little episode. He placed his forehead against the wall and sighed heavily, finally getting some self-control in that body of his. "Sometimes I really wonder if I should've taken you to that shrink…"

Gabriel turned his head slightly to look at her, but he said nothing, disappointment was written all over his face, and his comrade felt the same thing. Their plans were put on hold until they could figure out a way for the Keyblade's 'Chosen One' to somehow get him to open the lock.

"Hey, let's just trick him… Well do that thing…" Gabriel went on rambling on about something that happened back in the Underworld. "We just need somebody…" he said tapping the side of his head with his finger.

"How about that…"

**R i k u **

"They didn't tell me you were coming over this way…" Reeve said answering the door from the conference room. "Was she like this already?" he asked pointing to Amaterasu, she was sleeping peacefully on the couch.

I couldn't really say if she was, because she had sat down once the fight with the Heartless was over. '_I knew she was going to do something like this…_' I looked back at the man with the matching brown goatee, and shrugged my shoulders a bit in response.

"It was her idea to come over here," I said pulling up a chair next to Reeve. "Heartless were by the area we were at, and I think that's when she fell asleep. She's not as light as she looks…" Reeve started to chuckle a bit at this.

"She eats like a bird," Reeve said. I didn't really understand what he just said. "It means she eats her weight in food, or at least a ninth of it anyway… I've seen her eat before. Man does she love food…"

_'There's another thing she loves, and apparently you're out of the picture.'_ The Heartless said coming back into my mind. _'A dead guy _and_ food…' _

_"You know you're really starting to get on my nerves,"_ I said to the Heartless. _"Can you do something else besides taunt me? You know go inhabit another person's body or something?" _

"How are the two of you getting along?" Reeve said watching Amaterasu as she was curled up into a little ball.

I moved back in my chair, it was pretty obvious how we were acting now. I looked back at Reeve for a moment and just sighed putting my head down again. Xehanort came back into the picture, and it was enough to make me clench my fist for a moment. I couldn't relax when I felt his name around me.

"I see," Reeve said finally sitting down in his revolving chair. "She didn't tell you from the beginning, did she?" even for an old guy, he was able to figure stuff like this, I'm surprised.

"She won't tell me anything anymore, we don't talk like we use to." Why am I saying this to him? I should be saying this to her but I'm afraid she won't listen. "She loved him a lot, didn't she?" I said my heart was afraid of the reply.

"You want a lie or the honest truth?" Reeve said looking at me for a moment. I opened my mouth slightly, but I quickly closed it. "I'll take that as the truth." He leaned in on his chair, so that his arms could rest against his lap. "She did, more than anything in the world, more than food, which was saying a lot…"

"Okay, okay…" I said shaking my head. "I get it…"

_'Are you satisfied now? You know you brought this on yourself, for loving that girl…'_ the Heartless said playing along with the whole thing.

I knew he would say that, and I felt my heart start to break the chains that held the darkness within, I was afraid I was going to lose control of my sentiments, but I didn't, for now anyway.

"You guys need a vacation or something…" Reeve said, he was joking of course, I really hope he was, because I don't think even that would help our cause. "I'm joking of course."

I looked back and noticed that Amaterasu was starting to wake up. She had looked so peaceful while she was asleep. She sat slightly rubbing her eyes. I'll admit she looked so much like a little kid at that point. Reeve stood up and addressed us into another sort of room, it was smaller than the one we were in before.

The news that came crashing down to both of us, I felt my heart just break in half. The look of pain and sorrow etched into Amaterasu's feature, I couldn't take it. One moment she's asleep, and the next moment she's crying her eyes out and yelling in protest.

"Amaterasu…" I looked back at her, tears refused to stop.

I remembered back to when I first met those three, eating at the dinner table, I thought that for once I might have a somewhat normal life. I thought that maybe I'd have a good time with all of them. I did, but then came this, and things even before that, it just made it all the more unbearable.

"It's not true…" she said looking back at Reeve with saddened smile. "Just say it's a joke, please…" she begged him to take it all back. Amaterasu was sobbing in her chair, the pain from her body was somehow blocked out in her mind.

Reeve stood up, and at that point she just clung to him, sobbing into his blue suit, burying her head there. Her speech was muffled, and Reeve bent down to eye level with her.

"I'm hurting inside too, Amaterasu," he said stroking her hair for a moment. "They knew what they had gotten themselves into, and they were ready to give up their lives if that was the case."

They were given a letter shortly after Sora and Kairi had finished their training, telling them to meet Sora in the civilian district. It had been trap all along, to trick them, and the end result was killing them off. Amaterasu looked down at the ground, and tears were still hitting the wooden floor.

I stood up and looked back at her for a moment. My inside, my world, was thrown into chaos, up was down, and down was up. Pretty soon light would be darkness, and darkness would be light.

She started walking down the room and at this point I couldn't take it anymore. I did the only thing I could do. I wrapped my arms around her, and just held her tight, and to my amazement she didn't pull back from me.

She held on tight to my shirt, and buried her head on my chest, she sobbed even harder than before. I closed my eyes resting my chin on her head, and she held on tighter. My heart was starting to sway around, I could feel it in me, and the last chain holding back the darkness was starting to break away.

Reeve had already left the room, and she still held on tight to me. At that point we ended up sitting on the wooden floors, and she buried her head again in my chest. Her arms were wrapped around me gingerly, and I could hear her still fighting back some sobs that were coming down.

I kissed the top of her head delicately, feeling my insides twist about in pain. I knew she was upset, and I knew she still loved _him_. But I wanted to be there for her, to comfort her when no one else could, to dry the tears away from her face when she didn't have the strength to do it anymore.

"Amaterasu…" I said whispering softly as I could. "I'm sorry…"

**_'_**_…But I love you, whether you know it or not. It's not a trick… I know I can't replace him, but I want make you smile again, I want to see you laugh again. I want to comfort you when you cry. I want to hold you and whisper in your ear 'everything is going to be all right'. I wish you could understand how I feel for you.**'**_

Those were the things I wanted to tell her so badly, when I said I was sorry, but I still couldn't bring myself to do that. In my mind it seemed so simple, but putting it to work was hard.

Her dark brown eyes looked up at me with tears surrounding them. I kissed her forehead, smelling that wonderful scent I had missed so much from her shampoo. She pulled away, clearing her throat. She dried her tears with her arm, and turned her back towards me.

"It's not your fault…" she said, her voice sounded weak. She looked back at me sadly. "I don't want to end up hurting you, Riku…"

I felt my body twitch for a moment when she said that, and I looked away from her.

"I just wish, you would tell me what's wrong," her voice was coming back.

"Then, why don't you go first?" I said scooting up closer to her. She looked away. It was obvious her face was hiding pain again. "Amaterasu…"

"Have you ever loved someone so much, it causes you pain?" she shook her head when she said this. "Never mind… We should… Maybe we should go back now…"

At that point my Heartless had disappeared somewhere, and I knew where. The chains from my heart were free, and darkness would soon set in, burying itself deep within my heart.

Her dark brown eyes began to widen, as she saw something.

"Amber… You're eye, it's amber…"

**A/N: You know what to do _one_ review please. **


	19. Amber Eye and More Figures

**A/N: Thanks to all my readers. **

**Thank you **ashner** I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it funny, but I couldn't fit it in there somehow, it didn't come out right. (I've been wanting to put her in there since chapter 11.) **

**I've decided to put 3 more FF characters, one which has a name, the other two don't if you guess right I'll give you a cookie or something! **

**The band **Young Love** inspired me a lot, and so tada! **

**On with the story… **

**Chapter Nineteen: Amber Eye and More Figures **

"Your left eye…" I told him.

He looked at me as if I was crazy or something, but I'm not. His left eye is a shade of amber. I looked at his right eye, it was still the same shade of turquoise.

_"Turn around Xehanort, please…" I said standing next to him. "I'm sure it's not that bad I mean… Come on, please?" _

_He turned around slightly, not really wanting to look at me. I noticed something was different. His eyes weren't blue anymore, they were amber. I felt my jaw open a bit, and I touched his cheek slightly. _

_"Amber…" I said, he looked away from me for a moment. "You did that once too, back at the infirmary room…" _

"What did you do?" I asked him, my voice was shaking.

He said he didn't know, but there must have been a good reason as to why his eye changed to that color. '_The darkness, it smells like him… That's his…_' I sighed and slumped against a wooden chair.

This really wasn't my day. Maybe I should've just stayed asleep a little while longer, that would've been a good idea.

I put my head down, just to think for a moment.

"Xehanort did the same thing once, but it was permanent for him." I said looking back at Riku, and his strange colored eye. "You carry _his_ darkness don't you? It smells the same…" I wasn't rather all that pleased to say it, but I had to.

"My heart," he said softly. "It's stopped restraining the darkness about a couple of minutes ago."

"Why?"

"I don't know," he said looking at me for a moment. "Does it look weird?"

"Yeah…" I said still trying not to look at him. It reminded me a lot of Xehanort, and I didn't want that, not right now.

I stood up, and looked around for something that held a reflection. A wooden desk had this little metallic disk, a paperweight. I pulled him up and showed him his reflection on the metallic paperweight. He touched the side of his cheek, and blinked for a couple of more seconds.

"Stupid thing," he muttered under his breath.

I looked up, hearing something hit against the window. They were droplets, which meant that it was raining outside. '_It hasn't rained here in weeks…_' I thought to myself. I looked back at Riku, he noticed it had started to rain.

"In a way…" I smiled at him for a moment. "You look good like that."

"Are you just saying that, because of…?"

"Hold it right there!" I said waving a finger at him. "No, I'm not, for goodness sake Riku… Yes, I may miss him to death, but he's in a happy place. You know what forget I said anything…" I said turning around, exhaling sharply in the process.

It still feels odd, talking to him. As much as I missed talking to him, I was still scared, but why? That's what I kept asking myself. Was it because I was afraid something like this might happen again? '_History repeats itself…_' I thought back.

Tachigami use to tell me that a lot when we were all younger. She use to say that the human race didn't learn from its mistake, which if one really thought about it, it was true, beyond a doubt. Still, from the examples of the past, why don't we avoid it?

I'm thinking it all leads back to the heart and soul of that person, their conscience, no there's another word. What was that thing called? Free will, because we have a choice, and my guess would be that people always picked the easy way out.

I'm not really making this whole thing better either, if anything I'm still repeating the same mistakes from the past. If I want to fix this friendship back into shape, I have to stop looking back at the past, but how can I?

He's got an amber eye for God's sake, how am I supposed to act around him? History does repeat itself, and I'm stuck in the middle of it all.

I looked back at him for a moment, and I could hear the rain as it was starting to pour onto the ground. He shifted his eyes back to the window.

To be honest, I still feel like crying, but I've cried so much, I'm afraid. '_Crying tires you out too,_' I thought to myself feeling my body ache with sleep.

I heard Riku sigh for a moment, and he sat back down on one of the chairs from the little room. I thought back to when he held me in his arms, that warmth. I did miss it, and he smelled like the islands. I felt this small blush crept up on my cheeks, but the good thing was that the room wasn't that well lit, so I was safe.

'_You're acting like an idiot. Ammi you idiot pull it together. You obviously love the boy for goodness sake, do something about it!_' that's something Tachigami would say. She would probably be laughing at the blush on my face.

'_Out of all the guys to pick, you pick this guy… Cuz he smells familiar? Are you sure it isn't because he looks good in leather pants?_' that's what the twins would declare. I felt a smile tug at my lips, and I covered it slightly, feeling water form around my eyes.

I looked down out the window, and a yellow pale umbrella caught my attention. '_Who the hell would walk out in this rain, not to mention with Heartless about?_' I thought to myself. The umbrella was tilted up a bit, to look at something.

"Hey, it's a lady…" I said watching the black hair and brown highlights in her hair.

Riku stood up and stood next to me watching the figure walk straight ahead, disappearing from our sight.

There was a knock at the front door, and I waited for a moment, but no one picked up. I sighed and ended up going to answer the front door. I don't know where Riku was, I think he was lagging behind.

"Hi…" the lady said smiling slightly as I answered the door.

"Hello…" I said smiling slightly.

"Is Reeve Tuesti here?" she asked.

The lady was wearing a black trench coat, and underneath it was this blue and black outfit.

"Yes, is he is." I said taking her inside the building. "Strange though, he didn't tell me he was expecting visitors…"

"Ah, well, I'm not _really_ here to see him. It's someone else," she said. "What's your name?"

"Amaterasu, Amaterasu Diaz," I said looking back at her. "What's your name?"

"Rinoa, Rinoa Heartilly." She said offering her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Amaterasu."

"Same here, Ms. Heartilly," I said shaking her hand. "I'll go and get Reeve…"

"Better yet, can you just call Squall, please…?"

"You know him?" I said tilting my head slightly. She nodded in response. "He's out… I guess you can talk to Reeve while you wait for him."

"How long before he comes back?" she asked looking at the clock for a moment that hung above the door way.

I told her about an hour or so, maybe shorter. I'm still pretty curious as to how she knows Squall.

**An hour later **

"We're back!" Yuffie said bursting through the doorway. They were all soaking wet.

Amaterasu and the new lady jumped up from their chairs, with a scared look plastered on their faces. Once they saw it was just the ninja dressed in black, they sighed in relief. Amaterasu though, chucked something at the ninja, and she growled rubbing the back of her head.

Reeve was down there, talking with Rinoa and Amaterasu about little things. He noticed that Squall had entered after everyone else. It turns out that Rinoa had sent a letter to Squall a week in advance, but Reeve never turned in the note to him.

Yuffie looked back, glancing again at the lady that was sitting down talking to Reeve. '_It's her,_' Yuffie thought for a moment. '_I'll say _hi'

"Hi, Rinoa!" Yuffie said cheerfully, looking back at the lady.

Rinoa responded back with her own trademark greeting, and at that point Squall looked in her direction. Squall felt as though his heart would stop. '_Why is she here?_' he thought to himself, placing his hand over his forehead, thinking, as he always did. '_Usually, she tells me if she's coming…_' he was a bit wet from the rain.

Sora and the others though took this time to offer their condolences to Amaterasu. Rinoa did the same as well, hugging Amaterasu tighter than possible. Yomigami was back at home, helping Gekigami with his wound that he got from a Heartless.

"How do you know her, Squall?" Amaterasu said once the whole thing was over.

"She's…" Squall looked embarrassed for a moment.

"Hey, come on, spill it…" she said tugging at his arm.

"My girlfriend." He said looking away from Amaterasu for a moment.

"That's sweet, she came out all this way to see you… In the rain…" she said pointing to the pale umbrella that was near the doorway. "She's really cute." Amaterasu said giving a big smile to him.

'_You're just like your brother…_' Squall thought, patting the girl's head. '_It's hard, putting a mask over your sadness._' He looked back at Rinoa, who called him over. He excused himself from the girl and walked over to Rinoa, who hugged him.

"I…" he couldn't really say anything, but held her. Rinoa didn't really care if she got wet, she was more than glad to have Squall hug her.

Sora and Amaterasu were grinning from ear to ear watching their comrade get hugged by this Rinoa person. '_At least he's not lonely,_' the two of them thought trying to keep themselves from laughing.

"Hey, where's Riku?" Sora asked, and Amaterasu turned her head in the other direction. "Don't tell me you guys got into another fight?"

"No… It's just that, well… He's asleep, I think…" she said lying easily.

"Oh," Sora said placing his hands in back of his head. "So how have you guys been?"

"Ok, I guess…" Amaterasu said shrugging for a moment. "It's still kind of weird, I guess you can say… Hey where's Kairi?"

Kairi had disappeared from their sight right after they finished comforting Amaterasu. She hoped really hard that she wasn't roaming around upstairs, since Riku would most likely be there, hiding again from the others.

**r i k u **

"Hey, Riku?"

The voice was muffled, and for a moment I thought it was Amaterasu, but it was Kairi. '_I can't let her see me like this…_' I thought to myself hiding inside the only thing I could find, a closet. '_Great, well at least she can't see me._'

The door opened, and I could see Kairi from the small crack of the closet. '_Jesus, talk about sick stalker status right now,_' I thought to myself shaking my head. I just really wished it was Amaterasu, at least then I didn't have to hide like this.

'_Just get out, please…_' I hoped she would very soon.

_'You brought it on yourself…'_

_"What hell did you do to me?!"_ I yelled at the Heartless.

_'You asked me if I had anything else to do, and yes I did. It's about time your emotions broke the chain, it was taking to long, but you've gained some control back, not that I'm happy about it or anything.' _

_"I'll find a way to take control, just you wait…"_ and with that the Heartless grinned, disappearing back into my heart.

"This is the last room here…" Kairi said to herself looking around the area. "Maybe he's in the closet."

I jumped a bit, my back hitting the backside of the closet really hard. I gulped, and felt my heart race pretty fast. She called out my name again, it was no use to deny it, she found me out already.

"What are you doing in a closet?"

"Nothing… Just… Nothing," I said whispering.

"Then come on out if you're not doing anything."

"I like it here, thank you very much…" I said really wishing she didn't come up here.

"Fine, I won't force you," she said sighing heavily. "How are the two of you getting along?"

"I don't know, rocky…" I said feeling my heart sink down again. "I made her feel a bit better, I think…"

"So then, you're not coming out of the closet?"

"No… Can you just get Ammi in here please? I'd feel better if you did." I said rubbing the back of my head.

"You're not going to stuff _her_ in the closet are you?"

I felt my face grow hot. "Of course not!"

Kairi started to laugh, my voice cracked a bit in embarrassment. '_Smooth, Riku… Real smooth._' She agreed and walked out. I sighed heavily, and slumped myself against the closet, placing my head down for a moment. My neck started to hurt a bit and it was getting on my nerves a bit.

**Downstairs **

"What do you think they're talking about?" Sora asked the brown skinned girl. She shrugged.

"She's probably asking him how he's been, that's the only thing I can come up with." Amaterasu said sighing for a moment. "Yuffie looks pretty jealous…"

"Yeah, I've been watching her for the last two minutes, she keeps looking over there…" Sora said looking back at Amaterasu.

The two teenagers were watching Squall and Rinoa talk. Reeve had gone back home, to go check up on Yomigami and Gekigami. Yuffie didn't seem all that happy with the idea of having Rinoa back into the picture, if anything she was starting to probably get feelings for Leon.

"Ammi…" Sora and she both looked up. Kairi came from downstairs, and Amaterasu gulped for a moment. She walked up to the two of them, and greeted the two of them with a small smile. "He's asking for you."

"Why?" Amaterasu asked feeling a bit confused.

"I don't know. But he's in the closet and he won't come out." Kairi said sounding a bit worried.

"…I still don't see why this has-"

"Just go…" Sora said cutting her off. "I'll do you guys some good, right?"

"I don't know…" but Amaterasu never got finish her sentence as she was being hauled away upstairs, by two teens bent on getting some good results. "I know what you guys are trying to do, but it doesn't work this way," she said trying to get her grip back.

"You never know until you try!" Sora said giving off this goofy smile.

Amaterasu just gave off and annoyed moan, rolling her eyes for a moment. "Fine, I'll go along with it, but…"

"Good!" Kairi said, opening the door to the last room. "We got her, Riku!"

**r i k u **

"Be good you two!" Sora said closing the door.

Amaterasu sighed heavily, and the next thing I know she's inches away from my face, she didn't look all that pleased to see me.

"Why?" she asked me.

I didn't really know what to say, but I just shrugged. I feel comfortable around her more than anything, even with what's happened to the two of us. She sat back down, at the edge of the closet's doorway, and I could hear her sigh again. I sat back down in the closet, looking up at the dark ebony ceiling of the object.

"Why a closet?" she asked out loud.

"Closest thing in my reach…" I said closing my eyes for a moment.

It was still raining outside, and would've wanted more than anything to be outside, watching the rain fall with her. But of course, you can't get everything you wish for. I didn't wish for this, no one did. Fate was just pushing us into some random direction, leaving us to fend for ourselves.

"Do you like being in there?"

"It'd be nice if I had some company."

"Keep dreaming then…"

I smiled slightly hearing her voice, I could tell she was joking. It was in her tone. I did miss our talks a lot, and she did too, I know that much. '_We'll find another way to dance,_' I thought to myself, thinking back to a song by a group called 'Young Love'.

I peered my head out of the closet door, and I found my gaze come in contact with hers. She gave me a sad smile, and touched the side of my face. I could feel the emotion in me surge with her touch, her hand was but I felt warm inside. A sigh escaped my lips and she looked away from me now.

"I miss everything about you…" I whispered.

"Don't… Please…" she said looking down at her feet. "Not now Riku…"

"Listen… Do you want to go outside?" I said, in a rather apologizing tone.

"How, you don't want people looking at your eye…" she said almost starting to ramble, but she stopped herself.

I missed her rambling, and I'd give anything to have things go back to how they were in the summer. I looked at the window, it had no screen on it. She looked back at me and I pointed to the window.

She walked over to it, and opened the window, inhaling the scent of rainwater hit the ground. It was a scent even I missed, and she missed it as well. I walked over to her and she climbed out the window.

"Over here…" she said holding out her hand for me. "I've done this about three times now…"

I took her hand, and she led me to a small balcony type of platform, it was sheltered from the rain. I looked out into the distance, the place was covered in mist now. I sat down, and Amaterasu sat on the other side of the area.

"That lady, did she come in?" I asked.

From what she's told me, her name is Rinoa Heartilly, Squall's girlfriend. I smirked at the thought of him having a girlfriend. She told me that Yuffie looked a bit jealous, not that it surprised me.

'_If you get the chance you must dance…_' I had that song stuck in my head.

I have the chance, but I'm afraid, and right now she doesn't want this. '_But I want you so badly Ammi…_' I thought to myself. '_Have you ever loved someone so much, it causes you pain?_'

I have, what I mean to say is that I still do. It's all right though, I can get through this in the end. I know that one day we can be happy somehow, it's just the getting there part, that's making it hard.

We'll find another way to dance, somehow.

"Riku," I turned around and looked back at Amaterasu. "We've got to find something for your eye, or at lease make the other turn amber too…"

"So then, are we okay?"

"We're getting there…" she said.

**Gabriel and Leana **

"You're here then…?" Leana said looking back at the figure. The mist was starting to become thick, and the only thing she could see was a faint orange glow from the other figure's weapon.

Gabriel growled in disappointment for a moment. Looking around for another figure, he didn't find one, the mist was too thick. There was a faint hum from the orange glowing weapon, something Gabriel really wasn't too happy to hear.

Leana looked around again, "Is he here too?"

"What happened to your arm?" a rather deep voice said from the mist.

"That answer your question?" Gabriel asked pulling out his weapon.

Leana jumped back hearing the hum of the orange glowing weapon, it sliced quickly through some ruble. It was pointless, obviously the two figures could see well in the mist, but the other two couldn't.

"Your voice, it sounds familiar…" Leana said, hearing a gun shot ring out in the area.

**Rinoa and Squall **

"I'm going to stay here," she said looking past the rainwater.

The two of them were sitting outside, on the porch of the building. Squall looked at her for a moment, for once feeling a peace with everything.

Usually Cloud and Aerith would be with him, but they had _other_ _things_ to attend to.

"What made you decide to pick now?" Squall asked looking back at Rinoa, he had missed her.

She sighed for a moment and closed her eyes. Opening them again she whistled for a moment, hearing the shrilly vocal echo down the area, it was faint. Rinoa smiled for a moment, and gently poked him on the nose.

Squall didn't smile, but he felt all right. Other than that there was silence, he didn't mind, so long as he was with her. He heard some distant chatter start and stop once in a while, he knew their voices, and he sighed heavily.

"I feel bad for her," Rinoa said, referring to Amaterasu. "It must be tough for a girl like her."

"Her brothers, sister, and she have been alive for more than twenty years…" Squall said closing his eyes for a moment, leaning against the wall of the building. "I suppose it is… but you've seen her…"

"Yeah, she's kinda cute…" Rinoa said trying to lighten the mood a bit. "That Riku guy never came down though."

"He's up there…" Squall said pointing up.

"He's dead?"

Squall shook his. "He's up on the roof… You can't hear him?"

At that point they heard the two teens talk for about a second or so. The one called Riku, seemed a bit shaky around Amaterasu, which made Rinoa laugh a bit, but other than that, that was just it.

"He likes her…" Rinoa said softly. "Doesn't that remind you of…? Oh you know…"

**Up on the roof **

Amaterasu moved to the side a bit as she felt Riku brush up against her. Her heart was racing with confusion. Today had not been a good day, and she didn't want to cry anymore, she was getting emotionally and physically tired of it.

Riku looked back at her, and smiled for a moment, thinking back to what had happened hours ago. He missed holding her in his arms, just being there for her. But enough of that, he liked getting Amaterasu worked up once in a while, it was for the pure enjoyment of watching her jump.

"Where's that ring you were wearing the other day?" he asked her, looking down at the ground underneath their feet.

"At Reeve's…" she said catching a glimpse of his amber eye. Three of her favorite colors, blue, turquoise and amber, and Riku had two of them.

'_I could really use some ice-cream about now… Badly…_' she thought to herself staring out into the misty areas. She felt a cold hand on her cheek, and she moved away for a moment. The hand came back, taking a hold of her chin, and her insides froze for a nano-second.

Amaterasu took the hand away from her chin, with quick reflexes, and sighed heavily. '_Why… out of everyone in the whole universe… do I love him, and yet I push him away? Come on God, answer me that, if you do exist… Why, why do I push him away?_'

Amaterasu knew her answer wouldn't come, since the deities worked in mysterious ways. It was out of reach, only something that would come in time, and she knew she had all the time in the world, but he didn't, because Riku never once was experimented on.

'_Time… It means nothing to me… Because I have more than enough…_' she thought to herself.

In the distance Riku and Amaterasu noticed a brown blob, and a red blob walk out together in the rain.

"I know how you're feeling, Amaterasu…" Riku said looking back at her. "The pain, of loving someone…" he said softly, looking into her sad dark brown eyes for a moment.

He froze as he felt her embrace, something that caught him off guard. Riku didn't know what to do at this point, and lost himself in the embrace she gave him.

The rain became a light drizzle, and the mist was clearing slowly.

'_We're almost there…_' Riku thought to himself holding Amaterasu's embrace a little while longer. '_Almost there…_'

**Gabriel and Leana **

"This is pointless, I can't fight like this!" Leana yelled back at Gabriel evading the attacks from the orange glowing weapon.

Another gun shot was heard, and Gabriel hid behind some ruble, hearing something above him. He moved again, and the gun shots kept coming. The figure with the orange weapon stopped, and the guns were placed back into their places.

For a moment Gabriel noticed something red blaze the sky, and disappear into the city.

"It's them…" Leana said. She knew who it was now. "I thought they were dead…"

At that point they heard the Keyblade's 'Chosen One' speak with someone else. Leana sighed heavily, hearing another female voice come out.

"I love this day…" Gabriel said giving a big smile to Leana. "Don't you?"

"You are weird…" Leana said shaking her head for a moment. "But anyway…" she smiled watching the Keyblade wielder walk into their view.

**A/N: You know what to _one_ review please! **


	20. Another Chance

**A/N: thank you **DJ Diddy Dog**! I'm glad you liked the chapter! **

**Thank you very much **ashner**! I felt bad for Squall, so I brought her in. And you're only half right, it was Vincent and somebody else… But I'll give you a coke anyway, you guessed half of it. I've got OCD with cola… **

**Also I am bringing Red XIII because I want to now. **

**There's also the unidentified one, with the glowing weapon, so 2 down 1 to go. **

**Thank you readers and reviewers again, I keep going because of you! **

**On with the story… **

**Chapter Twenty: Another Chance **

"If it ain't the Keyblade's Chosen One!" Gabriel said calling him out in the area. Leana had tried her best not to get him to yell, but it didn't work.

Sora turned around the direction of the call and blinked for a moment. The mist was clearing fairly quickly, which would've helped the other two individuals with their previous fight. Gabriel looked back at Leana and gave her a thumb up, and she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Just get the girl, right?" Gabriel said pointing to the red head next to Sora. "Her?"

Leana nodded and looked back at her injured arm, she growled feeling useless at this point. '_When I find her again, I'll mess up her freakin' arm!_' it was her personal vendetta. Her honey eyes watched the two teens walk forward, rather cautiously.

"Hey hold on, if those two were here… Doesn't that mean that thing's here too?" Gabriel said out loud. "If it is, then we've got to call for some help, you know?"

"That's true… Stupid Red… I hate that thing," she said shaking her head in recollection of a memory. "We've seen Vincent and the other one… It's not a surprise to see or rather not to mention this one… Why, do we keep getting drawbacks…?"

"It's that woman…" Kairi said tugging Sora's arm a bit. "We can't go up against her, or that guy, whoever he is…"

"She's got a cast, relax…" Sora said walking up trying to be a hero.

Gabriel advanced forward with this cheesy wave, and Leana scowled him. '_Grab the girl, camouflage the keyhole, and nab the box… I hope it's as simple as it sounds…_' Gabriel thought to himself as he was within close quarters to the boy and girl.

At that point Leana noticed something red jump in front of them, and Sora and Kairi jumped back in surprise. Gabriel laughed nervously hearing the animal growl in a rather defensive tone. Leana placed her good hand into the air, and a thunder bolt dropped down in the animal's direction, Sora and Kairi jumped back with their Keyblades at hand.

The animal had managed to jump back just in time as the lightning bolt hit the ground. It charged forward, and Gabriel placed a Gravity spell, but the red animal had fast reflexes. The woman jumped back and set a Blizzard spell, and the animal reflected it back with another element spell, using Fire. In the heat of confusion, Sora and Kairi stayed back a bit, looking at the man with the purple eyes but they soon lost sight of him. At that point a scream erupted from Kairi, and when Sora looked back, she was gone.

"Thanks, Red…" Leana said retreating back into a dark portal.

The animal roared out in protest, charging after her, but the portal vanished, leaving Sora and the red animal by themselves. It looked back at Sora, who was searching for Kairi, but it was to no avail, they had taken her from under his nose. The blue eyed boy looked back at the animal, it held a remorseful look in its eyes.

"I am sorry," it said.

"You… You can talk?!" Sora said in bewilderment.

The name he was given was Red XIII, and he had been held captive by one of the researchers during Ansem the Wise's reign, but it wasn't obvious. He had red, almost mahogany, colored fur, with a scar over his right eye. He resembled a red lion, almost; it looked like a mix between a dog and a lion to be honest. Red XIII wore metallic looking bands around his legs, they looked like anklets. He looked like he belonged to a tribe.

"It'd be nice if you wouldn't stare…" Red said looking at the pair of blue eyes.

It was hard not to, it wasn't everyday you'd see a talking red thing, with a flaming tail. Sora couldn't help but look at Red XIII.

"And what's your name?" Red said.

"So-Sora…" he said gulping for a moment. "And you?"

"You can call me Red XIII," he said his tail swaying to the side, the flame shined brightly despite the rain that had fallen.

"Do you know those two?" Sora asked reflecting back on Red's little brawl.

He nodded and walked up to Sora looking at him quizzically. "You look a lot like him…" red couldn't help but say it. "You've got his eyes…"

"Wha?"

"Anyway, do you know them?" Red asked, throwing Sora off guard.

He shook his head, and asked Red if he had any idea as to where they might have taken Kairi. Sora was disappointed at the fact that Red said he didn't have a clue as to where they were at now.

"I'd better tell the others…" Red XIII said walking down the street, Sora kept up with him.

"There are more of you?" Sora asked, putting his Keyblade over his shoulder.

"They're human…" Red said smirking slightly. "They're pretty close by…"

**Vincent Valentine **

"Are you happy now?" the voice asked, it was very stern towards him. "We've lost sight of Nanaki…"

Vincent scanned the bottom of the streets looking for a red blob walk down the area. He saw a blob with brown hair and a red blob.

"See, you worry too much," Vincent said back at the voice, the figure was hiding in back of a chimney. "He can fend for himself."

"I didn't think they'd be here," the voice said sounding feminine. "This just makes things worse. Why didn't we come here sooner?"

"It takes time for sins to be forgiven…" Vincent said looking back down. "And I think I've finally received redemption."

The figure appeared out and sighed looking back at the man. '_He's acts so much like a child. I'm amazed Lucrecia was able to keep up with him, and his child like manner towards things like this,_' the figure thought blowing some strands of hair away from her face.

Vincent looked back down at the gauntlet that went down past his left elbow. He closed his fist for a moment, lost in thought once again. This was something figure was use to, and would respect his moment of silence.

It had been about thirty years since Vincent was woken up by Cloud, Aerith, and Squall, and not forgetting Rinoa as well. The figure with the feminine voice had been alive since then, and in turn had saved Vincent once.

"You make others worry about you," the figure said.

**With Riku and Amaterasu **

Riku jumped back upon hearing a sudden noise that even Amaterasu didn't sense. She looked at the window, noticing a familiar leg stick out of it, and she covered Riku's eyes quickly. A nosey little ninja appeared at the window.

"It's Yuffie…" Amaterasu said whispering lowly. "What the heck is she doing her? Oh yeah, Rinoa…"

"Any bright ideas?" Riku whispered, the only thing he could see was darkness.

"Unless if you call a fake-out a good idea…" Amaterasu said feeling her voice give away to a small laugh.

"…" Riku held back a laugh shaking his head. "If you're up for it?"

"Hell no…" Amaterasu said thinking of something else. Riku frowned slightly, but he recovered from the rejection of the idea. "Uh… We'll jump from the roof…"

"I like the other one better…"

"Of course you do…" Amaterasu said in a rather unpleased tone. "We're no going to die from this height…"

"Hey you two!" Yuffie said finding the two teens out. "What are you guys doing up here?"

The two teens answered back with a confused 'nothing', but it didn't satisfy the young ninja's satisfaction. As much as Riku was vouching for the other idea, he knew Amaterasu would most likely hit him for any funny business. Yuffie was walking over to them, being careful around the slippery edge, and surprisingly Yuffie didn't fall as she made her way over to the two.

"Were you guys out here the whole time?" Yuffie asked arching an eyebrow. "You guys are going to get sick…"

"Thanks for the advice." The two of them said.

"Why are you covering his eyes?" she said looking at Amaterasu.

"He's got pink eye…"

**Rinoa and Squall **

"Hey what's that?" Rinoa said pointing at the red thing in the distance. Squall scanned the area, and noticed a fiery tip. He looked at the boy walking next to the animal.

"It's Sora, and…" Squall had the name hanging on the tip of his tongue but it wouldn't come out. "I know his name…" he said putting on his 'thinking stance' as Rinoa called it.

At that moment, Amaterasu landed on the ground with Riku scowling at her. Rinoa blinked a bit, and smiled at the sight. Riku walked around her, shaking a finger at her, and Amaterasu raised her hands up in defense.

"They argue like we use to, sort of…" Rinoa said looking back at Squall. "Are you still thinking about his name?"

"Pink eye?!" Riku yelled out.

Squall and Rinoa looked at each other, and shook their heads in unison. Amaterasu growled and walked back into the house. Squall felt nervous now about talking to Amaterasu, since she might explode on him or something.

Sora starting to run to Riku and at first, paid no attention to him, but then he looked again.

"Your eye!"

Riku looked down, and then Sora said something that caught his attention.

"What do you mean kidnapped?!"

The red creature looked at Riku for a moment, and hung his head for a moment. He tried to explain something, but Riku didn't listen.

"Sora, you were supposed to take care of her!"

At that point Amaterasu stuck her head out from the doorway, still a bit upset, but none the less concerned. Yuffie called out from the roof, asking what had happened. Rinoa and Squall put two and two together, and figured out that Kairi had been kidnapped. At that point Squall informed the others about the situation through his cell phone, and within about twenty minutes or so, the others came down to the area.

"Nanaki!" Amaterasu said running to fling her arms around the red lion-ish creature. Nanaki purred slightly, as Amaterasu patted him on the head. "How'd you get here?"

"With the others…" Nanaki, also known as Red XIII, said looking back for a moment. "Where ever they are."

"More importantly though, Kairi's been kidnapped by some guy with purple eyes!" Sora said wildly flinging his arms in the air.

"Purple eyes…?" Amaterasu said blinking slightly, she thought back to anyone who she came in contact with, and could only think of one. Sora went on to mention the woman with the honey colored eyes. "Why the hell were you guys outside anyway?!" she said angrily.

Cloud, Aerith, Reeve, Yomigami, Cait Sith, and Gekigami appeared before Squall and the others, looking at Nanaki and greeting him. He in turn greeted them, and at that point Cait Sith landed on Nanaki hugging him slightly.

"So, then…" Reeve said looking around, "It looks like the old team's coming back…"

Yuffie jumped off of the roof and walked over to the others, dusting herself off. She noticed something red coming down from a roof nearby. She pointed in alarm and the others looking up at the sky.

Sora brought out his Keyblade, thinking it was a Heartless of some sort. Reeve, Squall, and Amaterasu told Sora to stand-down. At that point Rinoa and Aerith waved their hands, trying to catch the man's attention.

"Vincent!" the two of them yelled waving hello to him.

"Hi, Vinnie!" Yuffie said jumping up and down.

**Gabriel, Leana, and Kairi **

"He's gonna find you, and you'll be sorry!" Kairi said yelling her brains out as Gabriel formed chains around her hands and ankles.

"See, that's why bad guys get jinxed, it's because of people like you…" Gabriel said covering Kairi's mouth. "My God, how does she put up with you…? Back then she would've killed you. Damn, I miss Amaterasu now…" Gabriel said putting his hand back down.

Kairi had bitten him, and blood was starting to form around the bit mark.

"Stop talking and just put her in the hole…" Leana said glaring at Gabriel with an icy stare. "I'll do the rest from there… Got it?"

Gabriel nodded, and placed a Stop spell on Kairi's body to keep it from moving. It was at the second level, a stronger spell. Gabriel picked her up, and placed her in the hole, it was rather deep. He just prayed to what ever god that hopefully she didn't bleed, because then he'd find animals in there the next day sniffing for food.

"Let's try and keep her alive, please?" Leana said getting up from her little makeshift chair, she was sitting on a boulder. Gabriel moved aside and let his partner take the rest. "All right then," she sighed, and closed her eyes for a moment.

Within seconds of the spell, the top part of the hole was covered and Kairi could only see darkness now. A little stand, with a depressing rock carving of a girl's figure, that being Kairi, covered the hole, with a fake keyhole. The real keyhole was on the wall, and within it, it held the memories of Xehanort, about 2/3s of it really.

Gabriel sighed and looked back at Leana, who was taking off her cast.

"What are you doing?" Gabriel asked her as Leana flung the material on the ground, setting it on fire. "Oh… Your arm is going to smell really bad."

Leana growled and froze his arm slightly, and Gabriel jumped back yelling at his partner.

"See this is why I miss the good old days!" Gabriel said yelling at Leana for a moment, he finally found a way to thaw his arm. "I've been with you FOREVER, and I feel like killing you in your sleep…" he covered his mouth.

"I'm glad to see we're on the same page…" Leana said shaking her head. "There's nothing we can do, the past is the past. Now, let's focus on our mission."

"Right, Xehanort's memory!"

Kairi was still in the dark trying to break free from the chains that held her, but it was no use. She just prayed that the others would find her. '_Sora you jerk, you'd better not keep me waiting!_'

**R i k u **

We're at the ravine, due to a hunch that Reeve had about finding a suspicious reading on his radar. I don't know if it was just luck, but we found something. Down in the ravine is where the old castle was, along with ruins and what not.

Amaterasu went ahead of us, to go and scout out with Nanaki and a girl with amber eyes. The others haven't made a big deal about my weird colored eye, which is a good thing, I don't want to explain it to anyone.

That girl with the amber eyes, she was with that man, Vincent Valentine. I know Amaterasu is older than she appears, so I wasn't really all that surprised to find she knew him and the girl. Still, I kind of feel a bit jealous, she's ageless, time doesn't catch up to her.

Anyway we're still walking around the area. Heartless here and there, but it's nothing we can't handle, since we're in a big group now. Yomigami and Gekigami haven't been hounding me, but I know why.

I'm still upset as to what happened to Tachigami and the others. They didn't deserve to die that way. Sora said he was outside because he wanted to see if he could find anything that Tachigami, or the twins left behind, so that he could give it to Amaterasu, but he didn't.

"To your left!" Cloud said taking out his First Sword.

I jumped to the side, and brought out Way to Dawn, hacking at the Heartless by my area. Aerith placed a Thunder spell taking out about five Heartless in a heart beat. I watched Amaterasu take out three Heartless with the swing of her Keyblade, she really got into it.

Thanks to gazing at her, a Heartless took a whack at my face and I found myself staring up at the sky.

"Riku…" Sora stood in front of me protecting my fallen self. "Don't get distracted…"

"There's an opening!" Amaterasu said calling the rest of us to another side. "Hurry up!" she said.

Nanaki attacked a couple of Heartless, and Amaterasu pushed some off of her as she was leading the way. The girl with the amber eyes moved quickly, it was hard to keep up with her sometimes. Vincent shot down five Heartless with the use of only one bullet, and it was amazing, I'll admit.

Reeve and Cait Sith helped one another out, taking out Heartless that approached one another. '_A man and his robotic cat…_'

Rinoa and Squall were strong, despite their age. They're like what 27 now? That's not _that_ old, but still it might as well be in this day and age.

"Ammi!" I yelled out as a Heartless snuck up on her. I out stretched my palm, and in a flash of white and black, an energy ball knocked down the Heartless. I sighed and looked back at my hand. '_Dark Aura,_' I thought to myself closing my fist again.

_'I'm taking control little by little… I want you to know that.'_

_"I'm not going to let you!" _I yelled at my inner Heartless.

_'You just tell yourself that, boy.'_

That damn Heartless, stupid Xehanort, I hate him. He's been nothing but trouble from the start. First with me, and now with Amaterasu too. I hate this, I can't do anything about it, or maybe I can but I'm just using it as an excuse.

**A m a t e r a s u **

I looked back at everyone, they seemed to be in good shape. I went ahead again with Nanaki, and her. The Heartless were starting to retreat, which was a good thing, since I was starting to get a bit tired. Other than that, I just wanted to save Kairi from those two idiots.

I have a feeling that it won't be that east, since Gabriel can fight pretty well, but even with Leana's arm all messed up, she' still a threat. Maybe I should've killed her on the spot, but I would've felt bad. '_You grow a conscious now, that's rich…_' the voice in the back of my head said. '_It would've helped back then you know, a lot of people…_'

"I know…" I whispered to myself, Nanaki picked it up though, and so I laughed nervously.

There was an opening, to where the old castle use to have that little pulley system to get across. It smelled like Heartless, and I had a bad feeling about it all, but for some reason I didn't feel so nervous around it now.

The others finally caught up, and Vincent and Yuffie went ahead, just to scout. I looked back at her, the girl with the amber eyes, and she gave me a rather small smile. '_She's still the same old girl…_'

"Three Behemoths!" Yuffie said running back in a frenzy.

"Sora, go and find Kairi' we'll take care of everything here, okay?" I said looking back at him. "Here take this…" I said tossing him a keychain. "You'd better bring it back though, it's a good one, and I'll kill you if you don't…" I said smiling slightly. "Please, go and save her…"

Sora took the keychain, and within moments his Keyblade changed shape. The Keyblade Ultima appeared, being one of the best of the best Keyblade's around. A very powerful weapon no Keyblade Wielder should be without. At least that's what I remember when I found it in the HBRC room.

"You've got another chance, now go!" I said looking at him. "Don't worry about us. I'll take good care of them… And Riku…" I said.

"Someone's being egotistical today…" Sora said and with that he went running off deeper into the area.

With that all of us formed a small group, fighting off the Heartless that went after the Keyblade's 'Chosen One'. It wasn't all that easy, since the Behemoths came too early, and a massive bunch of flying mage Heartless came. '_Hell's being a bit too nice…_' I thought to myself watching Leon and Rinoa tag team together against ten surrounding Heartless.

"Spilt up into groups!" Yomigami said.

**With Sora **

"Runt at five o'clock!" Gabriel said looking back at Leana, who had gotten use to her arm again. She smiled wickedly and nodded.

"But we don't want to kill him just yet…" she said thinking for another moment. "Just coax him, but that's about it, okay?"

"Who the hell made you queen…?" Gabriel said looking back at her. "You do it… It's your plan."

With that Leana took no chance and brought out her weapon. '_If I know Amaterasu, she'll come eventually, and I'll get my chance at her…_'

Kairi heard Sora call out her name. '_It's a trap… Sora don't do it it's a trap!_' her mind was screaming over and over again, but it was no use, Sora wasn't psychic.

Sora got into a fighting stance, and Ultima weapon appeared in his battle ready hands. Gabriel watched from a safe distance, and remembered seeing that weapon once with Amaterasu.

"She's gonna die now…" Gabriel said smirking at the thought. "And if she doesn't, he's going to die once we're done with him."

**A/N: You know what to do _un/ one_ review please!**


	21. Message Causes Emotion

**A/N: It's finally working! YES… dang it's been forever… **

**Thank you **Princess Kaira of Mirana**, it's a little present for you!  
****Thank you** Nameless Dragon**. I love Vincent, he's my favorite character.  
****Thank you **Matt-san** (you know who you are) but you can keep the Coke, in fact I'll give you a case of it, and a little something special…  
**Hey is it S/K, cuz if it is I win! Hm or Axel and that other chick… I don't know dear, but it's okay you can have my coke!  
**Thank you readers and reviewers a like! **

**The mysterious FF character is… Well you have to read and her name will come out. She's from DoC... **

**On with the story… **

**Chapter Twenty-One: Message Causes Emotion **

"Go with, Sora!" Gekigami said pushing off some Heartless in his area of vision. He looked back at Amaterasu and at Riku.

Gekigami didn't feel that Sora was ready to fight either one of those two, and most likely Leana would rip him to ribbons once they finished toying with him. Amaterasu threw a Heartless off of her back and looked back at Riku he was in back of her taking care of some more Heartless.

They both felt that their help was needed more to Sora, but they didn't want to leave the others alone as well. Reeve told them to go and help Sora, and they had no choice but to follow directions from a higher-upper such as Reeve.

"I'll go with you…" Nanaki said following the two teens. "I've got a score to settle with them too."

Riku looked back at Amaterasu with a rather apologetic look on his face, but Amaterasu shook her head. What they needed to focus on right now was helping Sora and Kairi as they ran down the same path Sora had used to go look for Kairi.

Sora was on the ground, with Ultima at his side, and Riku growled looking at the woman who was responsible for it all. Sora got up, and charged forward, taking a swing at Leana, and knocked her down. Her arm, from what Amaterasu could make out, was still a bit out of order, in terms of fighting and handling.

Sora jumped back avoiding Leana's weapon from slicing his head clean off of his neck. Riku jumped forward, and landed in front of Leana, and the woman jumped back. Nanaki and Amaterasu arrived shortly after, and she didn't look that pleased with it all.

"I thought it'd be just you…" Leana said pointing her weapon to Amaterasu.

"No… Sorry, I don't swing that way…" Amaterasu said pulling out One Winged Angel and going straight for the attack. "I should've killed you last time…"

"Bleeding heart…" Leana spat out, ignoring Sora and Riku. She rushed forward and with such strength sparks flew from both weapons as they were blocked with enough force to shake the ground a bit.

"Go…" Amaterasu jumped back and blocked another attack. "Go get Kairi…" she said straining under the strength of the attack.

Sora ran forward and Gabriel approached him. He knew well enough not to kill the boy, but that didn't mean he could have some fun with him. Gabriel was stronger than Leana, but it wasn't noticeable since he acted like he did.

Riku stayed behind with Amaterasu, but he noticed that Nanaki had got her back covered. He decided that maybe it was best that he'd go with Sora. Gabriel pulled out two weapons, they looked like Keyblades, but again they had no Keychain.

Sora growled in frustration, he wanted to save Kairi, but it was almost impossible with another battle. Leana was pretty strong, and he knew that this guy wouldn't be a walk in the park. Luckily he had Riku along side him, and he prayed that he'd at least have a good chance of making it out in one piece. He was doubting himself rather than doubting his friend.

"I'll make you a deal, I'll fight the guy with the weird eye, and you can go save your girlfriend, deal?" Gabriel said looking at Sora, smiling. "I promise, no funny business…"

Sora looked back at Riku, and Riku nudged him.

"Deal…" Sora said to Gabriel. He looked back at Riku, "Be careful, okay?"

"Yeah, now go save your princess…" Riku said running forward with Keyblade in hand.

**The trap **

Sora avoiding getting hit by the oncoming attacks from Gabriel and Riku, and he finally managed to reach the area where Kairi was being held. He noticed that there was a Keyhole on a rock, and he pointed Ultima to the direction of the Keyhole, and a faint white light shot out going inside the Keyhole.

At that point he noticed that the rock disappeared and he looked down. Kairi shouted something to him, but he couldn't hear her that well.

"It's a trap!" she yelled out loudly.

Sora looked around him, but he didn't see anything wrong with the area. At that point there were two giant doors that moved slowly, as if they were unlocked by something. Inside it was dark, with water running out from it. It looked like that underground waterway the old castle use to have.

**Amaterasu, Nanaki and Leana **

Leana was pinned to the ground, by Amaterasu's Keyblade, her shoulder felt as if it was on fire, and Nanaki growled menacingly at the fallen woman. He had a big dislike towards her, and he had every right too.

"It's been fun…" Amaterasu said, twisting the Keyblade as it was in her shoulder, and at that point flames shot out from the Keyblade. She unlocked the Fire spell, and used it to a full extent.

Leana, in a last resort jabbed her weapon into Amaterasu's chest, mere inches away from her heart.

Amaterasu's eyes widened, and something in her own heart clicked. She felt the warm crimson substance run down her frame, and at that point Leana's weapon disappeared from view. Nanaki pulled it off as quickly as he could, and watched as Leana's body disappeared into the wind, she was burned to a crisp by Amaterasu.

Nanaki placed a high level Cure spell, and tore off some clothing from her sleeve, pressing it against the wound, to keep it from bleeding out. '_No, come one… Don't give up, Amaterasu, please…_' he thought watching her eyes change color for a moment. '_Don't give in to it…_'

Leana's down fall had been that shoulder of hers. Nanaki had a clear shot of it with a Fire spell, while Amaterasu was attacking her with regular assault abilities.

"Na…na…ki…" she whispered out. "It's…c-cold…"

Her eyes turned red for a moment, and then they went back to a dark brown color. '_Come on Ammi, you can do it, don't give into it!_'

**Gabriel and Riku **

Riku jumped back and used Dark aura, catching the man off guard. He was knocked back and growled. Gabriel brought his weapons down, and Riku blocked it just in the nick of time, but it was too quick, and he felt his leg was going to snap at the hostility of it all.

Gabriel brought down both of his weapons to the side and panted, Riku was getting faster and faster with each attack.

"Your girlfriend's in trouble…" Gabriel said pointing to the scene that was unfolding.

"You're lying…" he said going in for the attack but Gabriel kicked him off.

"You don't care if she's dying?!" Gabriel said locking his weapon with Riku's Keyblade.

"I don't believe you…" Riku said pushing Gabriel inch by inch.

**Squall and the others **

Vincent brought his gun Cerberus back into its place, and changed into Chaos, placing a hand over his heart for a moment. A ball of black material formed around him, and as he stepped out into plain sight, his appearance changed to something more demonic. He pulled his gun Death Penalty from thin air, and smirked at the Heartless around him.

Squall blocked an attack from an oncoming Heartless, and watched Rinoa cast a healing spell an everyone else. He pushed the Heartless back and pulled the trigger on his Gunblade creating a devastating after effect to the Heartless.

Yuffie threw her shuriken at surrounding Heartless, and Yomigami and Gekigami, stood by each other slashing at Heartless that jumped into the area. At one point Yuffie was thrown back and Yomigami caught her before hitting the ground roughly.

Cloud brought his First Sword back and broke it down to two now. He held both piece of his removable sword, and slashed at Heartless that jumped into view. Aerith stood in back of him catching Heartless with a Magnet spell, so that the job could be down faster.

The girl with the amber eyes stayed close to Chaos, slashing at surrounding Heartless with grace a diligence. She jumped back, and blocked her opponent's oncoming attack with her orange glowing sabers. Her eyes flashed amber for a moment, and with that she appeared behind a couple of Heartless and took them down with a slash of one weapon.

Vincent shot down three Heartless, with the use of one pull from his gun and he looked back at the girl with the amber eyes, she seemed to be doing well. '_Lucrecia, you'd be happy at her performance, and you too, Shalua…_' he thought to himself, taking out a couple of Heartless around the girl.

"Don't get cocky, Shelke…"

"I'd advise the same for you, Vincent Valentine," she said stabbing Heartless in back of Vincent.

**Gabriel and Riku **

Gabriel jumped back as Riku attacked from mid air. Gabriel threw him into the air and attacked him ruthlessly down to the ground. '_If you won't believe me, I might as well kill you off too,_' the man thought to himself as he pinned Riku to the ground.

He knew Leana had failed, but that was the price of what would happen when someone would fail, you'd pay the price. Riku turned his head slightly, feeling his head throb in pain. He looked at the red creature Nanaki, and noticed someone on the ground. '_It's a joke, right? Please don't be this cruel to me…_'

"I tried telling you, but you don't listen do you…?" Gabriel said crouching next to Riku.

Blood was trickling down Riku's arm, and all he could do was watch the scene. He couldn't feel anything, he felt numb. '_Amaterasu… Get up, please… come on…_'

"Ammi!" Riku yelled out desperately.

Gabriel felt some remorse, watching his ex-comrade most likely bleed to death. '_Her fake heart hasn't kicked in yet, and she might die if it doesn't decide to help out. It's been nice knowing you Amaterasu, it really has._'

At that point Gabriel noticed that both of the boy's eyes were amber now. '_He's got his eyes… Funny, she always did fall for guys like that… what the hell am I saying she's only fallen for Xehanort, and now this one no doubt…_' he thought pinning Riku down with a strong Gravity spell.

"You can say hi to each other in the afterlife, if you believe in one…" Gabriel said getting ready to strike his weapons down on the boy's body.

**Sora and Kairi **

"What's in there?" Kairi asked looking at Sora as he took a bold step forward.

Sora shook his head, and watched Kairi go in with him. The place was dark, and Kairi felt around the walls for a light of some sort. She ran her fingers up and down one wall, and felt something that seemed like a switch.

"It's a waterway…" Sora said watching the light finally hit the objects of the darkness. He walked forward, and looked around, the place was falling apart. It was unrecognizable from Sora's first adventure in the waterway. "It looks sort of familiar…" he said looking back as Kairi followed behind.

"Hey, what's that?" Kairi asked pointing to a metallic box, it had dents in it.

The box was placed on this little step, almost like if it once held some importance. It was behind a crumbling gate, and Sora remembered once that he had seen something, but his memory was fuzzy of that day. He walked up to the gate and looked into the darkness of it all, the box was there, untouched for decades.

"I wonder what's in it…" Sora said looking back at Kairi for a moment.

At that point Ultimia weapon appeared over head, and hovered above Sora. He grabbed it, and felt a tug as the Keyblade pulled him forward. The gate opened slowly, and the box started to shake. At that moment a Heartless sensed the Keyblade in its area, and appeared over the box, hissing at the boy.

"Give me a break…" Sora said getting ready to attack. He was getting tried of it all now.

Kairi stood by his side and pulled out her Keyblade, getting ready to back him up. That Heartless would do anything possible to keep the box back in its ownership.

**Gabriel and Riku **

Riku got control of his body back in the nick of time, but Gabriel had already inflicted damage on his shoulder and his right leg. He could feel the blood run down his arm and his leg, it felt warm. Gabriel sighed for a moment and looked at Riku's worn out body.

"I feel bad for you kid…" Gabriel said charging forward. "Losing someone you care about…"

"Shut up!" Riku said blocking an attack from the weapon. "I haven't lost her _yet_!"

Riku kicked one of Gabriel's weapon clean off from his grip, and Gabriel smirked. It had been a while since he fought with someone with this much spirit, and heart. It was like fighting Xehanort all over again, but somehow he knew it would be just a bit different.

Riku watched as the others came into view, and noticed that Yomigami was the first to run down to Nanaki, he picked up Amaterasu's body. '_No, please don't… I'm begging you, please…_' he thought. Gabriel brought Riku down to the ground, and Riku felt his body collide with the ground at full force. He felt blood run down the side of his head. '_I never got to tell you… I'm not letting it end this way…_'

**Nanaki and the others **

Yomigami picked up his sister's lifeless body, and held it close to him, praying hard to have her heart beat again. Gekigami looked away, and noticed that Leana's weapon was on the floor by his feet. He picked it up, and chucked it with all his might. Reeve knelt down by Yomigami, and hung his head for a moment, and noticed something.

"Yomi…gami…" Amaterasu's changed color, going to red.

"You're going to have to let it take over…" Yomigami said glad to hear his sister's voice. "Just trust me on this… Please…" he said looking at his sister again. "It was a bad idea to make you go… I'm sorry."

Amaterasu closed her eyes for a while her body went numb, she felt cold. The only thing the others could do was just watch, and hope, watch and pray.

Vincent looked away feeling sorry for Yomigami. He had faced so many hardships, he would possibly have to face another one. Gekigami looked back, noticing someone with silver hair down on the ground. He looked up at the figure that was going to deliver the final blow.

'_Riku…_' Amaterasu thought. '_You're gonna be okay, I promise you that much. All right? Because I'm all right now, and you have to be okay, that's how it works…_' The heart inside her clicked again, and darkness began to spread in her veins.

'_Those with darkness bleed black blood…_' Her hand touched the ground, and everything stopped for a moment. A barrier formed around Riku, and Gabriel jumped back. She opened her eyes, and the wound closed up slowly now. The darkness from the artificial heart had just saved her life for now.

Riku appeared beside to Amaterasu, who was breathing slowly, he was knocked out. Aerith sighed heavily noticing Amaterasu sit up slowly, her eyes were a deep shade of crimson, tinged with amber. She coughed up some blood, and noticed it was a deep red color. '_Ugh, I'm gonna be hurting in the morning…_' she thought closing her eyes for a moment.

Gabriel was gone from sight, possibly he had left to go get Sora and Kairi.

"Amaterasu…" the others said. She looked back at them, and tilted her head.

"I'm not dying that easily… Remember, I'm an experiment… Like that battery, it's keeps going and going…"

"Yeah well even batteries run out! You can't toy with your life like that…" Yuffie said still worried about her.

"I'm a kid, let me pretend…" Amaterasu said still feeling the pain in her chest. "Besides whatever the hell Hojo did to make my body last this much, I'm glad…"

Vincent threw her a glare, and Amaterasu laughed nervously. He wasn't in Chaos' form, but he was still pretty scary to her when he looked at her like that. Rinoa sighed in relief, and knelt down to Amaterasu placing an Elixir in her hands.

"Your friend needs it…" she said looking down at Riku.

"Riku…" Amaterasu said breathlessly. "I got you back in time…"

Squall left Vincent, Cait Sith and Shelke Rui, to guard Amaterasu and Riku while it they went after Gabriel, and to go get Sora and Kairi. With that Amaterasu opened the Elixir bottle, and smelled it for a moment, it smelled sweet. '_Funny, I didn't think I'd need this fake heart…_' she thought to herself lightly touching Riku's cheek. He felt warm, and she wiped some blood that was around his eye.

She picked up half of his torso, and titled the bottle, forcing his lips open a bit. '_Ew…_' she thought cringing at the thought. Amaterasu poured the contents into his mouth. '_Come on buddy, live… or at least cough or something please… Please…_'

Riku coughed a bit, and Amaterasu placed the bottle in a straight upright position. She sighed in relief, and held him for a moment, thanking God silently. She kissed the side of his head for a moment. She looked back at Cait Sith and to Shelke, nodding her head slightly, he was alive.

"We should probably get him back to a safe place," Vincent said looking back at Amaterasu. "You know it's not safe here."

**Sora and Kairi **

Sora blocked the oncoming attack from the Heartless, and Kairi placed a Gravity spell on the enemy. He threw Ultima at the Heartless, and it fell down, stunned. Kairi moved up running forward, and performed Sonic Blade. With months of perfecting the attack, she executed it with a sort of perfection. The Heartless fell and Kairi and Sora gave each other a high five.

"Hey look it's the box!" Gabriel said appearing in back of the two. "Thanks for finding it for me, you have no idea how long it took to get it…" he had the box in his hands now.

"Don't let him get away!" Reeve shouted from the entrance of the waterway.

Sora jumped forward, and Kairi placed a Magnet spell on the box. Gabriel blocked the attack, but the box was ripped away from his grasp. He growled, and pushed Sora down to the ground, trying to grab the box. Cloud lunged forward, and stopped Gabriel from moving forward. Aerith and Rinoa used Gravity to keep Gabriel from moving around, and before long Gabriel was staring down at the tip of the Ultima Keyblade.

"Who asked you to get the box?" Squall said joining Sora, he placed his Gunblade close to the man's neck.

"A witch…" he managed to mutter.

"Who?" Squall asked again.

"You want her name?"

"Yes, what is her name?"

"Her name…" Gabriel started to laugh. "You know her…"

At that point Sora's Keyblade emitted some white string like chains around Gabriel's wrists and ankles.

**Vincent and the others **

Vincent felt the material of his red cloak slip off of the others, and watched as they appeared from underneath the red material. Shelke sighed softly and looked back at Riku, his wounds had stopped bleeding, but they were still fresh.

Amaterasu sat next to Riku pushing strands of hair away from his face. He groaned in pain, since his head was throbbing. She looked away for a moment, and sighed heavily. Her eyes stayed the same, crimson with a tinge of amber, the color a terrible dark lord once held.

They were back in Radiant Garden, a safe area for now anyway. For right now the others were confronting Gabriel, and taking the box he was told to get.

"Are you all right?" Shelke asked Amaterasu, she seemed to be lost in thought. Cait Sith was in Shelke's arms.

Amaterasu nodded and noticed that Vincent was perched up on a rooftop, overlooking the city. Shelke sighed and leaned against the wall of a building, looking up at the clouds, they were starting to break apart.

"I'm just thinking…" she said looking up at the clouds.

"Your eyes…" Shelke couldn't help but notice. "They remind me of his eyes."

"Xehanort…" Amaterasu said giving Shelke her trademark smile. "Anyway, how are you and Vincent?"

"It's the same thing. Protect, help, feed… Talk… Sleep… He's like a child sometimes."

"Ammi…" Riku murmured out.

"That's my kid…" Amaterasu said noticing the small smile on Shelke's lips. "He's a good kid."

Amaterasu grasped Riku's hand and smiled, feeling Riku squeeze her hand back. '_He's still asleep though, that's good…_' she said smiling slightly. '_I'm glad Gabriel didn't really kill you…that and because I saved you…Be more careful, I guess I should say that to myself as well._'

"You're not… dead…" Riku said opening his eyes slightly.

"No… Too bad for you…" she said watching him for a moment. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a gummi ship pushing 72 in a 35 speed limit." Riku said watching the girl for a moment, he smiled at her. "I was afraid, when I couldn't feel your heartbeat."

For the first time Riku saw her blush as red as a beet, and she buried her head on her knees.

"Stupid jerk…" she said her voice was muffled a bit. "I could feel your heart beat fine…"

She said looking at him from the corner of her eyes. "They're both amber now…" she said softly. "See I was right you do look better like that."

**R i k u **

I smiled for a moment, it did hurt, but I smiled anyway. I don't want her to worry so much, but I least I got her to blush. I'm doing something right, so I can't complain too a lot, though my body's aching a great deal.

Her eyes, like look different today, I think I'm losing but, she looks good like that. I'll admit, she looks cute, but I won't get to tell her, if we keep up this damn cat and mouse thing. '_Okay so maybe I'm lying…_' I said smiling at the thought. '_Yeah I am…ah, but I can't do it!_'

I sighed, and she looked at me for a moment, with this simple smile. '_We're getting there… It's a pretty good start…_' I thought closing my eyes for a moment. '_Ouch._' My head is still hurting, and my side hurts, that idiot hit me on the side, knocking me down. I hope he didn't break a rib or something.

"I'm bleeding?" I asked feeling something warm run down my head.

Amaterasu pulled out something and placed it on my head.

"Jesus Christ! Ah!"

That thing hurt so bad, it's making my head feel worse.

"I'm sorry!" she said bowing her head slightly. "But it'll stop the bleeding, so stop whining."

"I'd like to see you with this…"

"…" she looked away from me, and sighed. "Just try and rest up okay?"

"Yeah…" I said looking up at the sky again, the clouds were breaking apart little by little now. "I like your eyes…" I said, thinking out loud.

"Thanks…" she said in a rather embarrassed tone.

**A m a t e r a s u **

'_Take a dare don't tell the truth keep this between me and you whispers become loud when word of this gets out,_' I thought to myself thinking back to that song.

I held Riku's hand as he closed his eyes, and he smiled. The only I could do was sigh again, that's pretty much just it. I was still trying to recover from earlier, and I'm not doing a good job. A part of me doesn't care, but I'm their family, I'm flesh and blood.

_'I don't care, but you do…'_ I haven't heard that voice in a while.

I felt tears form around my eyes, and I covered my eyes with one arm, clearing my throat for a moment. My face grew hot with embarrassment, but also I didn't care now, if they saw me cry. I laid myself on the ground, feeling the tears stream down my face. I miss them so much, my heart's breaking apart with each thought.

"It's okay to cry…" I heard Riku say softly. He squeezed my hand again.

_'You know you want to kiss him…'_ this was why I hated that voice. _'Just do it, it won't kill you. Besides you said so yourself, Xehanort is in a better place… And so is the rest of your family…' _

_"Ah, put a pipe in it you broken record…"_ I said to my little voice. _"I remember why I don't like you…" _

At least I feel better now, but now I have _that_ in my head. It's not annoying, but just bizarre now, but I don't mind I suppose, it's funny. Though you know what I want more than anything in the world?

"Sea-salt ice-cream, once this whole thing is over… I'm gonna buy it by the barrel!" I whispered to myself.

"You're talking to yourself again…" Riku said turning his head slightly.

"Sorry…" I murmured. "Hey, tell me when you'll get into another closet."

"Why? Don't tell me you want-"

"No…Because I'll remember to lock you in it…" I said putting my arm down.

"This is coming from the same person who thought a fake-out would be a good idea…" Riku said laughing softly. I heard Cait Sith say something.

Cait Sith was poking fun at me now, which was embarrassing but it got my attention away from more of the melancholy things going around in my head. My chest still felt like it was on fire or something, and I could feel this cold energy just run up and down. This darkness, I never would've guessed it would save my life.

_'It's not a bad thing…' it was something Riku wrote in that little black notebook of his. 'You can use it to protect, but even I still doubt what I've done, it's pretty hard… Sometimes I'll admit, I'm afraid that when I sleep I won't see my reflection in the mirror anymore.'_

"They have him…" Cait Sith said pointing to a couple of moving figures in the distance.

**A/N: You know what to do _ONE_ review please.**


	22. Set Back

**A/N: Here's the other chapter, I wasn't feeling to good yesterday so I'm putting it up today.**

Matt-san **yeah, that is from our song, you remembered. Thanks that's made my day pretty good today, thanks!**

**Thanks readers and reviewers alike!**

**On with the story...**

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Set back **

"This is rich…" Gabriel said blowing his hair away from his face. He looked back at the person that was outside of the confined area. "They send you as a guard." He said smiling at the person before him.

Amaterasu rolled her eyes, and looked back at the purple eyed man. In a way, it seemed like a good idea, since Gabriel would've gone insane with someone other than an ex-member. She titled her chair back and whistled a simple little tune that popped into her head.

"You saved your boyfriend…" Gabriel said trying to break free of the white chains, but it was no use. He growled in defeat and slumped back down to the wall of the cold confined area.

"He's not my boyfriend," Amaterasu said looking away, the man had broken her little whistling concerto. "Those binds are strong, they're made from pure light, Heartless can't even break out of it."

"Thanks for the tip…" the man said looking at the girl again. "Nice eyes," he said laughing. "That little heart finally kicked in. I missed watching you look like that."

Amaterasu glared at him, but he smiled as if she was no threat at all. It was true, this was the third time the artificial heart had made its long term appearance, but it was the first time it saved her life. The girl sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, she didn't want to do this anymore.

"They've got Xehanort's memories, well most of them anyway," the man said looking up for a moment.

She shifted uncomfortably at the mention of his name, and puffed her cheeks up a bit. Her tendencies were childish, but granted she did appear like one, so it was second nature now. Gabriel was more than happy to see his old comrade, for now anyway, most likely given another situation he'd be happy to kill her.

"You still miss," he stretched out the last word, "him." he said taunting her.

"They should've got rid of you…"

"Ouch, Ammi I feel hurt…" Gabriel said sounding hurt for a moment. "I felt really bad for a moment when I thought Leana killed you, I almost felt bad for the other guy too…" he chuckled. "I really thought it was going to be a Romeo and Juliet farewell."

"That play's depressing…" Amaterasu said looking at Gabriel, this time making eye contact. "I don't know why you like it so much though…"

"Let's jump off that topic…" Gabriel said feeling motivated now, "And ask you an important question," he looked at Amaterasu, "hold your comment… Would you liketocomebackwithme?" he said quickly. "Pretty please?"

"…" Amaterasu just placed a hand over her eyes. "How about you just focus on your escape?"

"I'm kind of getting sick of working for that witch…"

"I'm not listening…"

"I'll join you guys…"

"Nope… I know how you work, did you forget who you're dealing with?" Amaterasu said knowing all too well his plan of revolting on them later.

"Fine… It would've been fun making that Xehanort copy jealous…"

"He's got a name…" she said coldly. "And he's not a copy."

"Ammi and that guy sitting in a tree K-I-S-" at that point he stopped looking at Amaterasu for a second time, she was in a rather pissy mood so to speak. "Fine, but let me have some fun for a little while… Besides what _does_ your heart want?"

"What?"

"What… Does…Your…Heart…Want?" he said counting it out with his fingers. "It's a five word question."

"My-My…heart?"

"Does it want love, power, darkness, loneliness, what does it want?"

Up until this point she had never thought about what her heart had carved for. It rarely at times did cross her mind, but she began to think for now. She couldn't think of anything her heart didn't want.

"I don't know for right now." She said looking down for a moment. "Everything?"

"You said that last time, remember?"

**The top floor **

"How are you holding up, Riku?" Sora said with this worried look. Riku nodded, sitting up a bit, but Kairi told him again to lie back down again. "You really should rest though…"

"How is she?" Riku asked looking back.

"She's doing fine, she's doing guard duty downstairs…" Kairi said smiling slightly. "We got you these flowers, from Aerith's place." She pointed to one that had a clear vase. "That's mine, and the black one's from Amaterasu."

'_White roses…_' he thought smiling slightly at the sight of it all. Sora and Kairi left after that, and that was the last hour for visitors in the area. Riku had suffered a sprain ankle, and a bruise on his right side, a small fracture to his ribcage, but nothing life threatening.

He closed his eyes, and before he knew it he was asleep.

_'So then, how are you feeling?'_ the Heartless asked smiling.

_"Don't start… I'm going to get control back…" _

_'Wouldn't want to disappoint her, she likes your eye color. She says it looks good on you.' _

_"She's only saying it because of him, I mean isn't it obvious?" _

_'Never thought you'd bring him up again. I thought you were over the whole thing?' _

Riku opened his eyes, and closed them again. Amber eyes scanned the room again for a moment, and he sighed. '_Am I so worked up about him now? When I smile, I really want to believe she sees me smiling and not him… I can't really help feeling like this but it's something I'm curious about. She's too nice to me…_'

He thought back to what Amaterasu said, about the sea-salt ice-cream thing. It was like her, to say something like that. '_Sea-salt ice-cream, she loves it to no end in sight, she's like a little kid…_' Riku thought hearing the beating of his heart for a moment.

His heart was in pain again as he felt the Heartless try and take control, but it stopped when Riku sat up slightly. '_I've got to worry about this now too, just great…_' he thought frowning at the whole situation he placed himself in.

In the distance he heard someone singing a song down the hallways. He tried to pay attention to it as best as he could, it sounded familiar, and at that point his heart felt as though a warm fire was lit underneath it, and he knew who the voice belonged too.

"Take a dare don't tell the truth…" the voice sang out. "Will the message cause a motion we won't know till we get there…" it was a female's voice. "Can't keep from moving…" at that point feet were shuffling about in rhythm.

Riku felt a smile spread across his lips and sighed happily. He sat up for a moment ignoring the pain on his side, and he heard the lock from his door click.

"Can't stop to sleep it off…" the voice sang out as it opened the door.

She sounded happy when she waltzed into the room, and Riku was pretending to be asleep. His plan was working for right now, and he was enjoying it. Amaterasu didn't really identify if he was asleep or not, so she decided it was best to stop singing. Riku turned around, managing to watch her body move in rhythm with the song, which she was probably singing in her head, for a moment.

There was a small blush creeping over his face, and he decided to 'wake up' before anything else happened. Amaterasu had pulled up a chair opposite of Riku, and she paused when her crimson eyes caught sight of the amber eyed teen.

"You're awake." She said smiling. "Is it um, stuffy in here for you…?" she asked. "I couldn't really help and notice your face is a bit red there…"

"Uh...erm, it's nothing really, I mean…" he looked away for a moment. "Yeah it's a bit stuffy in here."

To be honest Amaterasu felt a bit oppressive within the room, and the next best thing she could do was just open the window from the room. The clouds were gone since a couple of days had passed since the events. Amaterasu had remembered to close the door quietly, so as not to attract attention.

She looked back, and couldn't help but smile at him again. Riku patted a spot next to her on the bed, and she shook her head.

"It's okay, they won't find us," Riku said giving a big smile. "Besides you're not going to hurt me."

"But visiting hours are over…" Amaterasu said rubbing the side of her head. "Don't they check the rooms, and _then_ lock them?"

Riku frowned and sighed, she had a point, but he wished she didn't have to follow the rules. "Be reckless… If you knew visiting hours were over then why are you here?"

"Wha?" Riku noticed the confused look in her crimson colored eyes. "Reckless? Wait I just came here to check up on you, for like a second…"

"Yeah… Sure you did…" Riku said nodding. "Just sit down for a while…"

Within a matter of moments Amaterasu's weight made the bed creak slightly, and Riku smiled despite the pain he was given by the sudden movement. From here he could smell her 'scent' as he called it. Truth be told it was just her body cream lotion, it was called 'Cherry Blossoms'. Without realizing it he found his lips lightly brush against her cheek.

"…" Amaterasu tensed up for a moment, feeling her heart stop for a second. '_I hope my face doesn't get red…_' she thought, placing a hand on the spot where Riku's lips brushed up again. He on the other hand seemed pleased with the result, Amaterasu on the other hand thought otherwise.

"Sorry…" he muttered laughing nervously. "I don't… I wasn't… It just happened," but at that point, he felt another tinge of emotion play across his face. Riku felt Amaterasu's lips gently touch the side of his cheek, in a rather comparable motion of what he had just done to her.

She seemed pleased with the look of confusion on the boy's face. Amaterasu pulled away from him, managing to catch another glimpse of his amber eyes. She loved watching his eyes, they made him seem, so much more older, wiser than he really appeared.

"Are you leading me on?" Riku said letting a sly smile show. Amaterasu blushed looking away in embarrassment. "Listen, Ammi…" she looked at him now. "I have a question… When you see me smile, who do you see?"

"You…" she said smiling. "You've got a smile nobody in the world could imitate!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" she said looking down at her feet. "I've never told you a lie about things like that. Just like what I said about your eyes, they suit you… But I mean turquoise is also my favorite color…"

"I thought it was blue?"

"It's all three…" she said rubbing the back of her head. Her body jumped feeling Riku's arms wrap around her. Amaterasu looked up at him for a moment, and smiled, feeling his warmth for a moment. "I'll be honest, I missed your hugs…"

Riku laughed slightly, ignoring the pain in his body, and placed his head on her shoulder, breathing in for a moment, finding some peace of mind with her. Amaterasu pushed a couple of strands away from his face, carefully so as not to hurt his injury that was on his head. He felt as though he would melt from her touch once more, trying hard not to blush again.

"Once this is over, let's get some ice-cream…" Riku said feeling his breath brush against her skin.

"Yeah…" she said, lost in thought as to the emotion that stirred in her. "Chocolate…"

"Not sea-salt?"

"Something really sweet…" she said placing a kiss delicately on his head.

**Yuffie and Aerith **

Yuffie and Aerith were in charge of checking up on Riku's condition, which he forgot to tell the girl. The ninja opened the door carefully and tried hard not to laugh at the sight she saw. She pulled Aerith in and the flower maiden sighed for a moment shaking her head with a small smile.

Yuffie was about to say something when Aerith placed both her hands on the ninja's mouth. She pouted and frowned at Aerith. The only thing she could say to the ninja was that it was best to just let them be.

"They're asleep…" Aerith said. "And you know how Amaterasu especially gets when she's woken up."

"Aww…" Yuffie said slightly in disappointment. "I don't even have my camera today, this day's been lame, and then we have this!" she whispered pointing to Riku and Amaterasu. "And I can't embarrass them."

"She can get you back with those tapes…" Aerith said simply.

"…Eh…" Yuffie tried to answer back with something else, but it didn't seem to work. "Well they look cute like that…" Yuffie said laughing nervously.

Riku had fallen asleep, with his head resting on her chest, arms still wrapped around her. The girl had slumped over to the side lazily, and she, Amaterasu, didn't really seem to mind since she was asleep, but when she'd wake it, it'd be a different reaction.

"I wonder, what she'll do when she wakes up?" Yuffie said placing a finger under her chin.

"I just don't want be here when it happens…" Aerith said already imagining the outcome. "I'm guessing she'll hit him, or something… And then we'll get blamed…"

"Ah, how sweet…" another voice said in back of them. "So this is where she's been." It was Rinoa. She eyed something that hung around the necks of the two teens. "It's a really nice outcome… Don't look at me like that I'm talking about the friendship necklaces."

**r i k u **

"Oh, look your alive…" Gabriel said in a discontented tone.

I sat down on a chair watching him for a moment. All I had to do was just watch him for about three hours, to see if he cracks more information about what his business is here. What _fun_…

It's been about two weeks now, and we've seen the memory sphere's at separate times. There's nothing new, that figure still kept chasing those three like crazy. In one part though Xehanort betrayed Ven and Aquan, which made me think back to my own betrayal, it gives me more of a reason to hate the dead man now.

"You've got his eyes, did you know?" Gabriel said with this stupid smile on his face.

"So I've heard…" I said coldly to him.

"I was wondering when you'd get guard duty."

I looked at him pretty weird, so he was waiting for me? Yeah, he's really weird, no scratch that he scares me, well now he does anyway. I'm still hating his guts, always have always will, he's the enemy no way around that.

"Don't flatter yourself with what I just said," the purple eyed man said laughing. "I'm sure by now you guys have seen the spheres?"

I didn't say anything.

"I'll take your silence for a solid 'yes'." He said. "You're like him in almost everyway, even down to the part where he…" he couldn't help but laugh. "He stole her _heart_." Gabriel shook his head again and laughed. "She likes you, because you remind her of him. Which would be an insult to a whole mess of people if that ever happened to them."

"That's not true…" I said sighing for a moment. "You don't know her like I do."

"I, beg to differ on that, boy." He sounded sure of himself. "Right now, she doesn't know what she wants because her heart is fake for right now."

"Fake…?"

"She's an experiment for Christ sake! Her heart's been tampered with so it's not even a real one anymore… Technically you can't really call her or her brother Yomigami human. Their hearts are sort of fake anyway… Don't get mad at her though, she's just doing what her 'heart' thinks is right… Once the darkness in her fake heart takes over, she might as well not have a real heart at all."

"Just shut up…" I said trying to ignore what he was saying, but it was no use, curiosity was winning this.

"Aw, don't tell me your mad now? Well it's true to an extent, her eyes don't lie, as yours don't. You've…" he pointed to me. "You've got _his_ darkness… She's got a heart that's being overtaken by darkness. Look at the amber tinge in her eyes sometime, you'll see what I mean. Yomigami on the other hand doesn't use his fake heart, because he's still using his real one. Since you were going to die, Amaterasu's fake heart kicked in to help you out. If she gets lost to the darkness, it'll be your fault."

"She won't get lost to the darkness…" I said still trying to register everything he had said. "I'll make sure she won't."

"You're going to be her light?" Gabriel started to laugh. "That's hilarious right there. You don't even have your own light, how can expect to save yourself and her?"

"I…!" I never did finish that sentence.

"Riku, your time's up…" it was her voice. I turned around and noticed Amaterasu standing in the doorway. "I've come to relief you from your duty." I smiled nervously at her and bowed slightly.

"Thanks… How the hell do you put up with him?"

"I'm standing right here you know…" Gabriel said in a rather annoyed tone. "Just kiss her already and leave…"

**Upstairs **

"Hey Riku, how did it go?" Kairi asked watching their silver haired friend flop down on a couch. From the look on his face, it didn't go all that well. She sighed slightly and looked back at Sora who was still looking at the Ultima keychain in his hands.

Riku was muttering hateful phrase about Gabriel, up to a point where he'd say he'd kill him, if he ever got the chance. Sora looked up at Riku and shook his head. Sora placed the keychain back into his pocket and looked at their amber eyed friend.

"Don't worry about him, besides we've got more important things to worry about. If Maleficent is alive we've got to take her down, again. This is just one part of our journey, remember?"

Riku sighed and agreed with his spiky haired friend, he had a point. Still what the current Chaser had said got him thinking again, and he hated himself for listening at that point. If anything Riku thought he was just doing it so that his heart would stray further into the darkness, and it seemed to be working.

'_It's true… She was an experiment… But I mean, she is human, she does have a heart, there's no doubt about it, I can feel it beat,_' Riku stared up at the ceiling thinking of another answer, but he couldn't find one. '_I shouldn't tell the others, and Amaterasu probably might get mad, but…_'

"It's just what he said," Riku said deciding to tell them. "It's got me thinking about something. It's Amaterasu's heart…"

**Reeve and the others **

"I'm afraid that her heart might give into the darkness pretty soon, thanks to the lock what was broken from within." Reeve said looking back at the others that sat before him. That's what they were all worried about, Yomigami and Gekigami included.

Nanaki on the other hand just looked down for a moment he spoke out in turn. "But by the time she does have the strength to lock it, it'll probably be too late."

"That's impossible…!" Gekigami said banging his fist down on the table.

"With the emotional stress, I'm afraid it's true… She's still just a child after all." Reeve said placing his elbows on the table. "For now, we're just going to have to keep her under constant watch, and Gabriel. The injury she received was close to the heart, and I'm most likely sure her own mind shut down for a couple of seconds, and the artificial one kicked in…"

"But she seemed fine a couple of weeks ago…" Aerith couldn't help but point out. "I mean probably she does have it under control, she's still the same Amaterasu, nothing's changed."

"We don't know that for sure…" Cloud said looking back at Aerith for a moment.

"For now," Rinoa said agreeing with Reeve. "We've got to keep her under our care. There's no telling what could happen if she were to snap."

"The only thing keeping her stable…" Squall said looking away for a moment. "My guess would have to be is Sora and the others."

"But aside from that…This also probably means that the dark lord himself will be coming back," Shelke said once the silence was brought back. "It's a new day and age, and there's no doubt that's what the witch is trying to do she's going to try and bring him back to life, wouldn't you all agree?"

"He'll try and find a suitable host, like Xehanort's Heartless did, but break off from this… Another question to also think about, Chasers they go after the true power of the Keyblade, why haven't they started yet?" Vincent asked following after Shelke's question.

"We all know you, Yomigami, and your sister are Chasers…Wait, but then, why haven't you guys gone after Sora?" Rinoa said with some concern.

"He's probably not the one…" Yomigami said placing his elbows on the table. "Remember Ven's appearance? He looked like Sora's Nobody. But, you know what, it's probably because he hasn't reached his true power. Gabriel hasn't even gone after him, he's concentrating more on those memory spheres. Anyway when it does happen, you can kill the 4 of us, we'll just be in the way with our original nature taking over."

"Just ignore him." Gekigami said sighing heavily. "Let's just concentrate on the other thing, okay?"

Chasers sought out power, and would desperately fight for control over it. Whether it be from darkness or light, they would fight to control it. It was unknown whether or not that the Keyblade War began because of the Chaser's desire for power, but that's what created more key-chains. Chasers were those who crafted metal as well, lining them to the first Key-chains.

If it was true that Sora was not in fact the one with the true power of the Keyblade, it would probably mean he's a pawn for something else. Yet if he was, his next step would be to become one with the darkness, which for now seemed like a set back, since the one with the most experience, this being the young girl, was in a difficult position, someone else would have to teach him.

"Riku can do it…" Yomigami said looking at his brother Gekigami for a moment. "He's able to use light and dark."

"He was originally _the_ chosen one…" Gekigami said. "Yet once Sora's mastered that, they'll come after him…"

"For now, let's just focus on foiling Maleficent's plans…" Nanaki said. "We'll worry about the other stuff later when the time comes."

**A/N: You know what to do _1 _review please.**


	23. Issue

**A/N: There's a glitch I'm guessing with the PMs and the alert e-mails… **

**Thanks you guys for the reviews! **

**I'm surprised I got this chapter up since my eyes have been killing me. I'll have the other chapter done by this weekend. **

N.Neo **thank you very much for your review, I like your story a lot though, I think it's way better than mines, I'm loving the plot on it all. **

Princess Kaira of Mirana **thank you very much. That glitch has been happening to me too so don't feel bad. **

Matt-san **thanks for the review! Hey I like Gabriel, he's not that much of a moron, well if he makes you laugh then… Oh yeah, you check your e-mail sometime too I sent you something yesterday. **

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Issue **

"You want _me_ to teach _him_?" Riku asked again for the fifth time, his brain still wasn't getting the picture. Yomigami rolled his eyes and answered again, in a rather annoyed tone this time. "I thought you and Amaterasu were going to teach us?"

"…I can't…" Yomigami said growling for a moment. "Don't play cute with me kid, you know why _she_ can't…"

"Listen… Once Maleficent is gone, I'll teach him, how about that?" Riku said eying a sleeping figure from the corner of his eye. It was the girl, she was sound asleep on his couch, just sleeping the whole afternoon away. Yomigami noticed his sibling and looked back at Riku with a rather cold stare. "Kairi and Sora are with her… Relax…" Riku said looking back at Yomigami for a moment. "Fine, look, but if Amaterasu does get better by that time, I want her to teach us."

"Fair enough…" Yomigami said sighing. He looked back at the sky for a moment, wishing it would rain, he needed something to go with his mood, but sadly only clouds would loom over the area. "You pull anything funny while she's asleep, and I'll kill you." He said looking back at the silver haired teen.

"You have my word, I won't hurt her." Riku said bowing slightly. He looked back at Amaterasu who was still asleep while Kairi and Sora were watching T.V. in the same area. As he turned around he noticed he was alone again, Yomigami had left him talking to himself.

Riku closed the door and sighed again, slumping against the door looking up at the ceiling. '_I can't teach him…_' he hung his head at the thought, and stared at the ground for a moment, watching a pair of black socks by his feet. It was Sora, extending his hand to his friend.

"We're getting ready to leave." Sora said looking back for a moment. "Ammi's still asleep, so don't wake her up."

Riku took his friend's hand and hoisted himself up. Kairi gave him a big smile and bowed as she and Sora were leaving. He saw the door close, and when the coast was clear he locked it and slumped back into the position he was in earlier. '_Amaterasu has more experience than I do, and would be a WAY better teacher than I could possibly ever be, that's for sure._'

The sleeping Amaterasu opened her eyes groggily, feeling a pain in her chest for the seventh time this day. '_Sleeping it off isn't working either,_' she thought to herself closing her eyes again. '_But that's the last thing I can think of. This is more annoying than the paopu effect,_' frowning for a moment at the thought. '_Which reminds me I only have four of those seeds left, I need to start planting them again… Ugh…_' Her insides twitched again as darkness was forcing itself little by little into her heart.

It was impossible to block out the darkness, because her heart was for right now a running faucet of dark energy with no key, and shutting that off by force would most likely cause a mental instability, since the deceased Professor Hojo never did finish the last phase of the project, he was killed days before the final examination.

Amaterasu turned over to her side again staring at the cushions of the couch. She thought back to that day she found herself asleep in Riku's arms. '_Ugh, my face is getting all red,_' she scrunched up her nose and thought of something else. '_We've been here for too long, we've got to start moving out again. We need to see the other worlds, sitting here isn't doing a damn thing. Heck I don't care of Gabriel comes with us along our journey, but we've got to get the rest of those spheres for right now._'

She heard shuffling in the distance and thought it was Riku moving about. She moved around slightly, to get a view of what it was he was doing. Riku flopped onto a kitchen chair and placed his head on the table, with his arms as cushions. At that point she decided it was best to sit up.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly, watching Riku turn his gaze toward hers. Amaterasu waited quietly for an answer, but she didn't get one right away. She sighed again watching him go back into his thoughts. "Riku…"

"I'm fine…" he said closing his eyes for a moment. He felt strange looking at her with these amber eyes. What Gabriel and his own Heartless said had got him thinking again, causing his heart to spilt again. "I'm just thinking."

Amaterasu leaned against the side of the couch watching the wrist band that hung loosely on his wrist. It reminded her of the gift she had bought for him. '_The ring…_' she looked down at her own hand, noticing she decided to wear the ring today. '_I'll give him his ring later,_' she thought looking up at a silver strand that seemed out of place.

Riku pushed back his hair for a moment, and placed a familiar ear piece on one ear. Amaterasu smiled for a moment, but then thought back to her own promise. '_I promised I'd keep his mom safe, crap… I wonder how Mrs. Fonovi is doing anyway? I hope she's all right. No… I know she's all right, that's much better…_'

"No offence, but why were you sleeping for so long?" Riku said turning his gaze back to Amaterasu.

"I'm sleeping off this bug…" she said lying for a moment. There was a stabbing pain in her chest, and she forced a smile on her face.

At the same time, Riku was using the music as a way to escape the literal heartache he was facing as well. He still hadn't found his light, even though he believed his light was standing right in front of him, but some reason Gabriel's words from the other day seemed to make sense to him. That was the scary part for him. '_If I can't find my light, I can't save her or myself, but if she can't find her light she… No, even in the deepest darkness there's light…_' he boosted up his moral just a bit and looked up as Amaterasu made her way into the kitchen.

Amaterasu was able to hear the song playing on her mp3 player and she hummed along side it moving her feet in rhythm. There was a small blush on Riku's face when he caught a glance of her dancing. It was driving him crazy, between Amaterasu and the darkness in his heart.

"You know…" she moved her hips a bit to the song, "we really should check on the other worlds. Knowing the person in charge, they'll start wreaking havoc all over our precious work." She stopped moving when Riku started to laugh a bit. She tilted her head a bit looking at him with a confused gaze.

"If I remember correctly, it's been Sora's hard work. Thanks to your affairs in the other worlds…" Riku said rubbing the back of his head, he didn't really want to put her down. "You were causing more problems." He said thinking back to the issue at Isla Cruces. "How the hell did that big Heartless get there anyway?"

Amaterasu sat down on the opposite side of the table and placed her head down for a moment, feeling her face scrunch up in pain from her heart. She cleared her throat and raised her head up a bit.

"Well I lured a couple of Heartless into the area, because this one guy, I forgot his name, he was a greedy guy, and you know how Heartless work. Anyway they started to go after the heart of that world, and thanks to their little entry point I found the darkness that was within the Keyhole of that place, but someone found me out, and the Heartless I brought turned against me…" she looked back down again feeling her chest about to explode, but nothing happened, it just ached more. Amaterasu looked back up at Riku for a moment and smiled again. "And then a week or so you guys came. I was hunting that big Heartless down for a couple of days."

Amaterasu decided to get up again and move about, taking the head phones away from Riku spinning around in small fashion. Amaterasu was teasing him this time with the headphones, sort of like when you tease a kitten with a string. At least for now they weren't so focused on their pain, but rather on the headphones, and each others movements.

"Let's get down, we've been waiting a long time…" Amaterasu couldn't help but sing that out. Riku had almost gotten the headphones from her hands. "Too slow, Riku…" she said sticking her tongue out like a little kid.

The two of them ended up going around the table, still bent on owning the headphones, and so far Amaterasu was winning by about a couple of seconds. Riku moved forward, but Amaterasu was ahead of him already, and she shook her head laughing. It seemed for that moment she was going to win, if Riku hadn't held her tight.

She growled squirming around in his arms. There was a look of displeasure scrunching up her face a bit. Riku stuck out his tongue in child like manner, and smiled at her for a moment. Riku reached around to grab the object, but his mouth gapped as he saw where Amaterasu placed it.

"Uh…"

"I win!" she said sounding rather pleased. "You're still too slow!" she said taking Riku's arms away from her. "Now… Unless if you're going to reach there…"

"Did you at least turn if off?"

"Of course I did, I don't want to waste the battery on it…" she said securing her pants back pocket. "So then, you're not going to even try?"

"What? You want me too?" Riku said arching an eyebrow.

"Of course not…" she said shaking her head. Riku let out a big sigh still trying to think of something else to say. Amaterasu pulled the object back out and smiled tossing it into the air. "You wanna try again?" as she caught it she yawned covering her mouth. "Ugh… I'm getting tired already…" she said to herself looking back at her other hand, nerves caused one of her fingers to twitch, and she closed her hand quickly.

Riku eyed her carefully, not missing a second of what he saw, still he kept it to himself not thinking anything of it. He heard Amaterasu hum something from her playlist, which he remembered was called 'the Look of Love' for both the song and the playlist.

"You've heard this one haven't you?" she asked hearing Riku hum for a couple of seconds. "A look that time can't erase… tonight, tonight let this just be the start of many nights like this…" she couldn't help but laugh at the lyrics for a moment. Amaterasu sighed looking back at Riku's amber eyes for a moment and a big smile etched onto her facial expression.

"What's so funny?" he asked pulling up a chair from the table. She shook her head and smiled again. "Come on, spill it…" he said eyeing her suspiciously. Again she didn't say anything and laughed again leaning against the table from the kitchen. Riku found his eyes wandering around finding small curves on her body.

"Hey!" she said sharply. "I'm up here…" she said grabbing his face, placing her hands against his cheek. "Up here, not anywhere else…" Amaterasu said a bit ticked off. "Honestly guys are all alike." The girl was pleased the embarrassed look on his face. She let him go and flopped back onto the opposite seat of the table. Riku scratched his cheek for a moment and laughed weakly feeling a bit uneasy now.

**Pride Lands **

"Aw Sora, cut the crappy walk…"

"Can some one tell me why we brought _him_?" Sora asked annoyed.

Gabriel let out a small growl, and if he wanted to he would've pounced on the dark brown lion cub. Sora was in charge of Gabriel since he was the only one who could break off the chains from his ankles and wrist, which were now his paws. Gabriel's hair was in his eyes and he growled again blowing it out of his face.

"Because you're in charge of him…" Kairi said stretching her lion form for a moment. Her mahogany fur made her stick out like a sore thumb. Her blue eyes looked back at the others that were walking forward.

"It's going to be hard fighting like this…" Amaterasu and her remaining siblings said looking at each other for a moment. Amaterasu's crimson and amber eyes looked back at Riku for a moment watching his slightly silver mane for a moment, it reminded her of bird feathers for some reason.

"Hey…" Yomigami said walking in front of her. "We've got a job to do you know." Amaterasu stumbled backwards falling down on her backside. "Don't get distracted." Gekigami's form looked almost similar to Sora's, but Gekigami didn't have a necklace with him, and his eyes weren't blue. "Let's get going…" Yomigami said watching Amaterasu and Gekigami for a moment.

Amaterasu walked alongside Gabriel, hearing her necklace clink against her chest with each step she took. Her fur color was of a light brown tinge, with amber eyes for now in this world. Gabriel looked back at her for a moment and smiled at his ex-comrade.

"You seem to be in a better mood." Gabriel said looking at Amaterasu for a slight second. "Could it have something to do with that Riku kid?" Amaterasu let out a low defensive growl. "Hey, come on, let me just joke around for a while. I know you like him, hell it's pretty obvious… He's just like _him_, you know, he fits the bill…" at that point he stopped noticing the look in Amaterasu's eyes. "Fine, I'll let it go, Jesus…" he said hit tail drooped in defeat. "Hey, Sora! Can you loosen the chains on these things!?"

"No…" Sora said looking back at Gabriel. "Just keep walking come on you guys. We've got to check up on this place."

"Knowing our luck it's going to be all messed up again…" Gabriel said looking back at Amaterasu. "Right, partner?"

"Keep walking…" she said not looking at him.

**Deeper inside the Pride Lands **

"Remind me to kill you later Gabriel…" Yomigami said protecting the chained lion.

Heartless were crawling about after a weird looking lion had showed up.

"I don't think so, I like my life thank you very much…" Gabriel said summoning another Magnet spell on the surrounding Heartless.

Gekigami sent out a Blizzard spell around the Heartless that were in front of him. Kairi and Sora managed to hold off fine on their own. Riku backed up Amaterasu and Yomigami, since this wasn't their best effort when it came to fighting on all fours.

"It was…" Sora held on tight to the Keyblade in his mouth as he slashed through a pair of Heartless. "…Pete…" he finally managed to say once he got rid of the Heartless on his side.

Riku charged ahead, knowing some Heartless into the air, while Yomigami and Amaterasu placed Fire spells on the descending bodies of the Heartless. The weird looking lion, known as Pete now, didn't place that many Heartless, since he had already got what he came for, no doubt it was one of those memory spheres.

"I thought he was gone…" Kairi said casting Reflect on herself. She tossed a Heartless into the air and watched it hit the ground and disappear.

"I guess not…" Riku said. He dodged an attack from a flying Heartless, and used a technique called 'Rapid Blow' tossing himself at the enemy, knocking them out, and watching them fall to the ground.

"Well we should've came here earlier…" Gabriel said not really caring what the others said. "Now Pete's going to get all the credit for this little find…"

Gekigami and Yomigami looked back at Gabriel with a rather sour look and growled at him, but Gabriel didn't flinch at the sight.

The Heartless were starting to retreat, something, or someone in this case was calling them back, and at least for now they could rest at ease for a couple of minutes or so. Riku looked back at Gabriel and growled slightly in disgust, what he had told him still bothered him and he wasn't going to let that go, not by a long shot.

"What places haven't you guys taken…?" Sora said in a rather commanding tone, to Gabriel it was funny watching the Keyblade's 'Chosen One' get upset like that. "Tell me, Gabriel." He said again.

"Ok, ok…" Gabriel said clearing his throat. "First of all, you're still a cream puff in my eyes kid… Anyway, why should I tell you?" He noticed the sudden movement Riku made and smirked slightly. "You know that place with the Pumpkin King? There's that one…" he was going to add more, but stopped himself. "Well that's all I'll tell you for right now."

Amaterasu sighed heavily and looked back at Yomigami, there wasn't anything they could do about it, since it was Gabriel they were talking about after all. Gekigami looked back at Kairi for a moment and shook his head. It was better that they take that one bit of information, or else they'd have a harder time getting the rest of the stuff out of him. Sora more or less did seem satisfied with that one bit, but not Riku.

"Just let if go…" Amaterasu said softly looking back at him. "That's all you'll get out of him."

"But Ammi…" his tail drooped slightly in defeat and he looked back at Gabriel with a cold stare.

"Once we're done here…" Sora said looking back at the others. "We're going off to visit Jack Skellington."

**Pete and Maleficent **

Pete gasped for air as he finally made it up to the tower where Maleficent was waiting for him. He didn't like going in there, but he had to deliver some news to her, and the memory sphere from the Pride Lands. The good thing was that Sora and the others didn't have enough time to chase him down.

"I gotcha that memory sphere, Maleficent…" he said watching a shadowy figure by the window, it didn't move. "Oh… Yeah, I saw Gabriel with them too… I think he got captured by those guys…"

"He's doing his part just fine then," the witch said. Her voice sent chills down Pete's spine. "Go and put the sphere with the others. We still need the ones from Radiant Garden. If Gabriel does his part right, we'll have them in no time."

Pete didn't ask again for the plan Gabriel had to do, or else he'd get yelled at again like last time, when Xemnas was off creating havoc and everything. For right now he was glad he didn't die, or lose his heart, helping Sora fend off those attacks in the World that Never Was. Still, he hoped that Gabriel didn't turn on them, he was by far one of Maleficent's more efficient and capable 'puppets' as he could put it.

His simple manner was what caught everyone off guard, including Maleficent when she found him. Still for right now the only thing Pete could do was just get the memory spheres and wait for Gabriel to come back. Gabriel the 'moron' as Leana had once called him, and the remaining Chasers knew what to do with the memory spheres.

"I just hope he comes back soon…" Pete said leaving Maleficent alone in the room of hers. "I didn't get yelled at this time…" he sighed in relief.

**A/N: You know what to do, _one_ review please. **


	24. Halloween and Christmas

**A/N: Thank you very much you guys for the reviews!**

**On with the story...**

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Halloween and Christmas**

"Snow?" Gabriel said hearing the snow crunch beneath his feet. Amaterasu and Sora stopped for a moment looking up at the home in front of them. Kairi, Riku, Yomigami, and Gekigami were in back of Gabriel making sure he didn't dash off. "I thought you said we were going to visit the Pumpkin King, not Santa Claus…"

In this world it was better to blend in with the surrounding people, and since this was Christmas Town, what better way to blend in than by wearing stylish Santa suits.

Sora's was a black and white version, Kairi and Amaterasu had their own female version Santa suit with a comfortable skirt, which the latter detested it to no end in sight, no matter how comfortable it was. Kairi's version was red and white, and the other girl's was red and black. The other males in the group had their outfit just like Sora's, for Riku though it was black and red.

"Yeah well… Riku said Santa Claus didn't exist…" Sora said remembering that day like it was yesterday.

"I can't believe you said that Riku…" Amaterasu said sounding rather hurt. "Of course he's real…"

Riku blinked a bit at the words coming out from the girl's mouth. '_How the heck was I suppose to know?_' he thought looking back at Sora and Amaterasu running towards good old jolly Saint Nick's home. He looked back slightly feeling a presence behind him. Gabriel made a small little noise and waved at Riku, which was hard to do with one hand.

"You look like a moron…" Riku said noticing Gabriel roll his eyes in discontent.

"When someone waves at you, you wave back, idiot." Gabriel said walking past him.

"Keep talking like that and I'll trip you…" Riku said walking forward to catch up with him. For a man in chains he walked at a pretty good and fast rate. The snow crunched every second as they walked faster and faster to reach the others.

"Is that the best you can do?" Gabriel said cocking his head to one side innocently. He laughed at him and Riku rolled his eyes.

"Don't push me!" the boy whispered harshly. Gabriel caught sight of his amber eyes and laughed off the warning.

"I think I already am…" he sounded pleased at the tone used in Riku's voice, so he decided to mimic it, just for laughs, to him anyway. '_I love messing with him, he's so easy… I wonder what it'd be like if I… I'll try that one later…_'

"That's does it!" Riku's fuse was reaching its end, and he was about ready to snap on the chained Chaser.

"Hurry up!" Amaterasu and Kairi both called out to the two guys. "You're gonna freeze out there!" Amaterasu yelled out cupping her hand over her mouth, to give it a sort of megaphone effect. "Don't make me go out there!"

"You heard your girlfriend…" Gabriel said dodging a punch from Riku's movement, and walked a bit faster, leaving Riku a couple of seconds behind. The only thing Gabriel could remember was the snowball hitting his face.

**A m a t e r a s u **

I sighed heavily looking back at those two. '_I've got to take care of two children now? One was all right, but two? What the hell is Gabriel doing here anway? He said he never wanted to come back here… Something's going on, I can feel it…_' I thought to myself watching Gabriel tackle Riku to the snow covered ground.

_'You know pretty soon you'll have to go back to your old nature.' _

_"Until the time comes I'm not worried for right now…"_ I said inwardly to myself.

_'You're lying…'_ even my darkness knew me better, and I didn't want to accept it.

"Hey!" I looked at Riku, he had Gabriel in a headlock. "Don't kill him, we want him alive!" I ended up running back to those two, pulling Riku off of him. "Stop this…" I said holding Riku back and looking at Gabriel for a moment. "We're going to have to work together…"

"Amaterasu…" Riku said trying to break free from my grip.

"I don't care what he told you…" I said looking back at his amber eyes for a moment. "And you…" I looked back at Gabriel's purple eyes. "Stop feeding crap into his head! It's bad enough already, we've got other issues to work out… don't talk to him, don't look at him, don't even think about ticking him off. The two of you are acting like kids, and I really hate playing 'Mom'… Got that?" For a moment I felt like a mom since I held their hands and dragged them off to our destination.

I don't really care what they thought of me at that point, their fighting was starting to get on my nerves. I could handle it when we went to Traverse Town, and then when we went to the Pride Lands, but this was the third time it happened, and well three strikes and your out.

It was a long and quiet walk back to Santa's workshop, and I was glad to hear silence between the two of them. It was music to my ears, but still I did sort of miss the bickering just for about a second or so.

To the point at hand, being in Santa's workshop, it was like this warm and fuzzy feeling a little kid gets when they're in a big candy shop, they just don't know what to pick. It was still like that for me, it's a feeling I'm going to grow out of, ever, I know that much.

Since Kairi had to ask about the naughty and nice list, I felt like leaving the workshop. I didn't want hear _again_ that I was on the naughty list, or that Gabriel has been on the naughty list since he learned how to walk. Surprisingly Sora was on the nice list, since he had told us about this one incident that happened while he was a little kid, courtesy of Riku of course.

"Has Pete come by here, Santa?" Sora asked, his blue eyes a bit too overjoyed to be back, they looked like they were shining or something.

Santa Claus shook his head and thought for a moment. "Try checking in with Jack, I hear he wants to do something big this year for Halloween. Something about a Heartless Dance or something… Whatever it is I'm sure he'll most likely know."

"Okay!" Sora said nodding for a moment, he raised his hand up slightly when he remembered something. "Just let us know if anything happens."

With that we were off to go find Jack Skellington. I haven't heard that name in ages, I'm surprised he hasn't croaked. I thought he'd be pushing up daisy, but after all they are dead anyway, they can't die _again_.

"Ammi…" for a moment I thought it was Riku, but it turned out to be Gabriel. "Listen, when we get the rest of the spheres you know what's going to happen…" I just looked at him for a moment, and I looked down as we all kept walking. "There's no way around our nature. Well go after him once he learns his true power…"

"If he ever does…" I said sounding a bit happy from that. "I'm not the one teaching him."

**R i k u **

From one place to another, we're off to go and visit Jack Skellington. Like Christmas Town we have to blend in here too, we've got to look scary. Sora looks sort of funny, but I guess that's okay. Kairi's outfit was that of a witch, it wasn't scary but it was dark looking, by that I mean dressed in black.

My costume on the other hand was this sort of humanoid Heartless disguise, it looked really weird. There was a red heartless symbol on my chest and on my back, and I know for a fact my amber eyes stuck out even more. My whole body was as black as night, in a way I could feel that it was my own darkness changing my appearance in this world. Loose bandages were wrapped around my arm, and thick anklets were around my feet with broken chains on them.

"You look like a Neo Shadow…" Amaterasu said titling her head slightly. I turned to look at her. "Well sort of anyway…"

She on the other hand had a broken Heartless Shadow mask covering one part of her face, with little black wings on her back. There was a small Heartless symbol on the side of her face, and her crimson and amber eyes stuck out more due to the color clash on them. She was dressed in all black too, with a small fang visible on the side of her lip, sort of like Sora's.

Gekigami and Yomigami had dark robes on with demon fox masks on them. They took them off revealing ghostly white faces and what appeared to be no eyes, just black holes. Gabriel on the other hand looked like a zombie, there's not a lot I can say about that.

"Wait hold on…" we were all walking to Guillotine Square when Sora spoke out. "Jack's trying to make another Heartless dance?" as we kept on walking he was still talking again about what had happened on his first adventure. "I really hope a fake heart isn't involved…"

I looked at Amaterasu when he said that, and she looked away from me at a moment. I heard Gabriel snickering in the back, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. I had to keep my cool, but it's hard knowing that he's right there. She sighed for a moment and looked up at Sora.

"I'm sure he's not doing that again, it's probably something else, maybe he's got robotic Heartless or something… Still…" she paused and bit the top of her thumb, closing her eyes tight for a second. "It'd be nice to see them dance…"

Something was going on with her, I could feel it. My own heart felt uneasy around her for brief moments, but I didn't let that get to me. She gave me a small smile and we all kept walking forwards. Kairi noticed Amaterasu's little movement too but all I could tell her was that I didn't know what was going on with her.

**With Jack Skellington **

Jack Skellington walked out of Dr. Finklestein and as he walked down the steps there was a small crowd waiting for him. It was none other than Sora and the others, they waved and greeted the Pumpkin King with friendly 'hellos'. Jack caught sigh of two familiar siblings and shook both of their hands, catching the two off guard.

"Hi, Jack…" Amaterasu said feeling her whole frame shake from the hand shake. Yomigami laughed nervously under his mask as Jack shook his hand. The two of them seemed to be lost in a distant memory as they had a small side conversation with Jack.

"Hey…" Sora had to cut the stroll down memory lane. "What's this I hear about a Heartless dance?"

The tall skeleton turned around slightly and looked at Sora for a moment with a small frown etched onto his bony structure, but it quickly went away. "Heartless dance…? Oh, _that_ Heartless Dance. It's just something I'm working on for next Halloween."

"A dance…?" Sora asked scratching the back of his head. "Do you mean like a festival?" the brunette asked with a puzzled look on his face. Jack nodded slightly and looked back at the others.

Gabriel avoided as much possible eye contact with the Pumpkin King as possible, he didn't want Jack to recognize him in chains. Sora went back to ask if a guy by the name of 'Pete' had shown up. '_Of course he hasn't…_' Gabriel thought rolling his eyes as the boy spoke. '_This place is my district… and the other ones we haven't taken yet. It's a good thing Pete got the one in the Pride Lands._'

Sora decided though that it would be best if the group stayed here for about another couple of days. Just in case if Pete did decide to come and stir up trouble. Gabriel knew that never was going to happen since that was his job. '_Once Sora has the sphere we'll most likely leave right after that… _'

The group started to spilt up and just wander around, checking areas within the town to make sure Heartless didn't touch the area. Kairi, Sora and Gekigami went in the opposite direction that the others took, going deeper into the town, rather than where the other group decided to traverse around in. Gabriel of course was stuck with Yomigami, and Yomigami went where ever Amaterasu and Riku went. Gabriel was humming something until he felt a cold stare on the back of his head, he knew it was Yomigami, so he ceased the noise.

Amaterasu's eyes scanned the area around them, trying to feel any presence of Heartless, but there were none within the area. She walked around on her own, slowly retiring from the group for a while. Her mind would drift back and forth from Gabriel and Riku. She was still trying to figure out what her heart wanted, but she couldn't think of anything, it was just blank. Nothing popped into her mind, and that's what most likely scared her, she was indecisive about everything.

'_I want to leave…_' she thought shivering slightly. The darkness made its way into her heart. Cold streams of darkness ran deeper into her veins, she could feel her heart become, or rather, turn colder and colder with each minute. '_I can't stay here anymore… Why am I even still alive? I should've died a long time ago, on that day…_' she shook her head and looked up at the dark sky.

Gabriel was watching her from a distance, with a pleased smile on his face. He looked back at Riku and Yomigami who were lost in the conversation one had with the other. The area was lit by lanterns and several homes had their lights on. There was a very thin layer of fog, and not that many people walked into the area. Gabriel took his chance to talk with his e-comrade for a while. He slid off the bench he sat on and walked cautiously to the other side of the area, luckily the other two didn't notice he had moved.

"Hey!" Gabriel said in a soft whisper. Amaterasu turned around slightly to look at the zombie looking guy. Her facial expression didn't show fear, or excitement, not even disappointment. It looked apathetic for a while. She patted a spot next to her and Gabriel took the offering from her. "What are you doing here by yourself? I thought you'd be talking to that Riku guy and your brother…"

"Gathering my thoughts…" she said simply resting her head against the wooden bench. Her eyes scanned the eyes for any disappearing stars but found none. She closed her eyes for a moment, and her hand curled up into a fist, she hit the bench slightly.

"It's starting to take hold, isn't it?" Gabriel said leaning forward on the bench. He placed his hands on his lap, hearing the white chains lightly clink together. Amaterasu slumped over in her spot and nodded for a moment feeling the pain slowly pass. "You know, there's always a spot open to you with Maleficent." She shook her head and mumbled something rather un-lady-like of her.

Gabriel watched the girl for a moment fight with the dark entity invading her small heart. He felt a bit apologetic about it all, even though he knew he had nothing to do with it. He wasn't the one who told her to take part in the experiment, or to even use the artificial heart during their 'adventures' as he remembered it. She opened on eye and looked at the chained man before her, and he noticed a small smile on her face.

"Why are you here anyway?" she asked in a soft tone. He noticed the gentle tone she used, it seemed rather sweet, but he doubted the tone for a moment until she spoke again. "Do you still feel some attachment to us?"

Gabriel blinked at her for a moment trying to figure out where the question was coming from. He found no valid explanation for it, and decided she was just asking, because she wanted to. He cleared his throat and looked back at Riku and Yomigami who still didn't notice he was gone from their view.

"To be honest…" Gabriel said looking at the little Heartless symbol on her cheek. "Yeah, in a way I still miss you guys. You and Yomigami were my favorite people back at Radiant Garden… I'd be lying if I said no. Do I still feel some attachment to you guys…?" he repeated to himself slowly. "I don't know, my heart doesn't respond to you guys at all anymore."

"Same here…" she said looking down at the wooden material of the bench. Amaterasu felt the heartache subside back into a gentle heartbeat and she sighed in relief. She looked back at the man with the purple eyes and laughed. "It's really stupid to think you'd still be attached to us like that…" Gabriel noticed that there was some hurt buried deep within her tone.

"Maybe in our next life…" he started to smile a bit. "Maybe, just maybe, we can find each other again… And somehow let it be like olds times…"

"You said so yourself, for people like us who have committed sins, we don't deserve a next chance…"

"Why are we still alive then?" Gabriel asked watching her amber and crimson eyes widen a bit. He smirked for a moment and laughed a bit watching Amaterasu start to sit up now. "You know you've still got some unfinished business in this life. You made a promise and you intend to keep it, and as for me…" he patted his ex-comrade on the head. "As long as you and your brother are alive I'm going to be around for a long time…"

"It's funny…" she said standing up now. "But I could never bring myself to hate you. I can't, you've done nothing wrong…"

"That's your dark side talking…" Gabriel said laughing for a moment. He noticed the amber tinge in her eyes were starting to grow slowly. "I have done bad things, but you wouldn't know about them, so I guess as long as I don't do anything bad to you, I'm good… Are you really going to stay with them, once the darkness finally takes hold…?"

"That's up for me to decide… But I'll mostly likely be gone before that ever happens…" she said holding her casual tone. It was soft, and for a moment she almost wanted to smile. "We should probably get going though…" she looked forward. "Yomigami stopped talking…"

Gabriel got up and followed Amaterasu, he started sighing in relief. '_I know she wants to come back, the darkness is calling to her, but… I guess that Sora kid has a bright light that won't go out. That's the only thing keeping her here… But that's what is making her suffer. With each day that passes, her heart is losing more and more light, but the process is so slow and painful…_' Gabriel still cared about his ex-comrade. He still believed somewhere in his 'heart,' if he could even call a 'heart,' that one day things could somehow be set right.

It seemed less likely with each sphere Sora seemed to collect. His hard work seemed to be flushed down the drain, but he'd work harder than the last time to make the plan a success. For now though, he'd have to wait and gain their trust somehow. Gabriel did know that Amaterasu was onto his case, no matter how nice she was to him. He knew she was still trying to figure him out.

"We're meeting with Sora back in Christmas Town…" Yomigami said watching Amaterasu stop directly in front of him. Gabriel bumped into her on purpose just to make her move a bit more. It was his plan to get Riku just a bit flustered, and it seemed to be working for the most part.

The walk back to Christmas Town was rather quiet, but since Gabriel was in the group the only thing you could hear were Riku and Gabriel's voice getting louder and louder. Amaterasu didn't snap at them, she just ignored them. Kairi and Sora were further ahead of the group, so the noise didn't reach their ears.

"It's snowing…" Kairi said breathlessly as she watched the cloudy sky. White pieces of the crystallized rain fell to the ground, blanketing the ground with fresh powder of the element. She looked back at the others and smiled.

Amaterasu felt her whole body get just a bit colder as she noticed the snow started to come down. She placed the Santa cap further down her head, so that it could cover her ears. Amaterasu heard Riku laugh at her, and she exhaled sharply looking back at the silver haired teen. Their appearance had changed once they entered Christmas Town, and so it was a Santa suit instead of a scary suit.

"Aw, you're cold…" Riku said smiling at his friend. She shook her head and kept on walking. He followed after her with Gabriel right by her side.

"You get use to it…" she said smiling slightly back at him.

Sora and the others were now sitting inside the warm area of a cottage, which would be their little 'motel' so to speak. Mrs. Claus had been generous enough to have the one of the old workshops turned into a spare little room, so to speak. Amaterasu was glad to get out of the cold, since she felt she couldn't enjoy the whole thing without wearing some pants.

"I hate wearing skirts…" she said looking back at Kairi. "I'd be better wearing some sweats or something…" she shivered a bit thinking back to the cold weather outside. Kairi just patted her gently on the back trying hard not to laugh at the scene.

"Hey, maybe Riku can warm you up…" Kairi said twisting a little devilish smile on her facial feature. She smiled at the light blush on Amaterasu's face and knew she had gotten the cold off of her mind, for now anyway. "So how have the two of you been anyway? Are you guys fixing your problems?"

"With Gabriel here…" she smiled slightly looking down at the wooden floor of the little home. "It's been getting there, I mean Gabriel gets Riku to get mad, so I calm him down, and then he talks to me… In a way Gabriel does mostly all of the talking, I just listen to the after part of what Riku has to say."

"Gabriel doesn't seem like a dangerous guy though…" Kairi said looking back at the man with the purple eyes. He sat down talking with Yomigami, apparently striking up small conversation with the older brother of the family. "Did you know him personally?"

Amaterasu sat up looking at Gabriel and Yomigami talk, it reminded her of the past for a moment and she couldn't help but smile at the warmth that touched her heart, even if it was only for a second or so. "I did, we were in the same group…" she said swinging her feet back and forth for a while. "It was me, Yomigami, Leana, Lucifer, and Gabriel. We were in the same squad before we became Chasers…" she said slowly cutting herself off.

Kairi noticed the pained look on her face, but Amaterasu fought off the pain just a little while longer. Amaterasu excused herself from Kairi and she opened the door and walked outside. Kairi watched her from the window, she was sitting by herself on the malfunctioned merry-go-round that sat out in the middle of the area. Kairi sighed for a moment and noticed Sora follow after her, since he had gone outside a while ago.

**Sora and Amaterasu **

"Hey Ammi…" Sora said joining her on the merry-go-round. "What are you doing here by yourself?"

"Well I'm not alone anymore…" she said noticing that Sora was laughing nervously when she finished saying that. "Why aren't you inside?" she asked watching some snow fall off of his cap. He said it was because he was looking for any possible places for the memory sphere. Amaterasu knew it was a lie, since the sphere was located within the keyhole of that world. "What's the truth?"

"Fine…" he said breathing in for a moment. "I can't really stand that Gabriel guy being there…"

"He's not such a bad guy…" Amaterasu said smiling at the Keyblade wielder. "He's a pretty funny guy if you get to know him." She noticed the bewildered look on the young boy's face and she laughed at him for a moment. "I mean, he's just acting like he always does… I know how he is… He doesn't mean half of the things he says, he just likes messing with people. Right now, he's like a cat with catnip…"

"He's high?" Sora asked tilting his head for a moment. Amaterasu shook her head and laughed at the thought of her ex-comrade being high. She noticed someone coming out of the little home and Sora turned around. "Hey it's Riku… that's my cue!" Sora said smiling sheepishly and running back into the little home. Amaterasu blinked for a moment and sighed, watching her breath float into the air, and disappearing.

Riku leaned against one of the beams from the little machine and she looked at him for a moment thinking of what to say. The only thing she could think of was Gabriel somehow coming into the equation, and make Riku a bit mad. Riku turned to look at Amaterasu and he smiled slightly at her. She returned the warm smile with one of her own.

"How do you like Gabriel?" she knew the answer to the question, but she wanted to hear it for herself. Riku growled and Amaterasu laughed a bit at his reaction to the question. "He's really okay, I mean…" she took off the cap and twisted it in her hands. "He's just like that I guess… He likes messing with people, but he means no harm in it. Trust me, I think I would know…" she said closing her eyes for a moment. "You'll get use to him, while we keep on looking for the spheres… Besides Sora's the one in charge of him now."

Riku sat at the edge of the machine and looked back at Amaterasu watching her eyes again for just a small moment. He was glad, just sitting there with her, and he didn't want to say anything to ruin the whole thing.

"Amaterasu…" she looked down at him and titled her head to the side. "What are you doing out here in the cold anyway? I thought you said you were freezing… Yet here you are sitting outside…" she sat next to him this time.

"I just needed some time to think…" she said feeling some warmth enter her body now. "Besides I knew that if I came outside you'd come outside too…" she said softly, watching more snow fall down on the ground. "I, uh… Well… that and because, I want to take you to Curly Hill, you know the one in the other town…" she said shyly. She laughed nervously and Riku just patted her on the head.

Riku pulled her up, "Then let's go!" he said throwing the girl off guard. "Unless if you want to take someone along with us?" she shook her head and stood up placing the cap back on her head for a moment. She outstretched her hand, and within moments a dark portal materialized within seconds. "Ladies first…" Riku said hearing Amaterasu laugh at the phrase.

"Hey, they're leaving…" Gabriel said noticing the black portal disappear. He smiled looking back at Yomigami for a moment. He and Yomigami had decided to step outside, and Amaterasu had probably sensed them. "It's been a while since she's done something like that…" Gabriel said not really caring what Yomigami had to say about it all. "I know you don't like the fact that he acts like _him_ but I mean come on… He makes her happy."

"Since when in the hell were you an expert on this?" Yomigami asked pushing Gabriel around for a moment. Gabriel laughed for a moment and stumbled back to regain some balance.

"I'm thinking this is the reason as to why she's alive now…" Gabriel said looking back at Yomigami. "But ultimately that's going to kill her too… I know you're still worried about what that voodoo priestess said…"

"Don't bring that crap up." Yomigami said acting defensively towards that pain in the past. "Look is that the only reason why you haven't done anything to _him_? Because of what Tia said?"

"That's the reason why I let myself get captured, sort of anyway… What about you? Why haven't you gone after, Riku or even Sora?"

"It's not time…" he said looking away from his ex-comrade. "You know that…" he said harshly.

**A/N: You know what to do _one_ review please!**


	25. Timing

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to a special person in my life, and that person knows who they are. Also I think it's about time Amaterasu and Riku get something anyway, poor kids, life is tough on them already. **

**Thank you **N.Neo** well there aren't plot twist in this chapter, none that I could pick up anyway on here. Don't worry I'll send my greetings to him, and well I don't know about the nick name you can if you want too, I'll let you. And I like Gabriel he's a pretty nice guy, he just has a complex personality as I like to call it. **

**Thanks **sorasheart281 **here's your fluff, well sort of anyway cuz well… Just keep reading! **

**On with the story! **

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Timing **

"What are you going to do?" Gabriel asked Yomigami. "Are you going to follow them?" Yomigami shook his head and sighed heavily for a moment. "Then what the hell are we doing out here in the snow?" Gabriel asked kicking some fresh snow into the air. "Are you trying to get me sick?"

"Follow her…" Yomigami said summoning a dark portal near him. "I remember you've got at least one promise you owe me."

"As you wish…" Gabriel said smiling slightly. "If she goes all dark, it's not my fault, that's our nature!" he said walking through the dark portal. Gekigami walked out of the little abode and noticed the black portal disappear. He eyed his brother cautiously and opened his mouth slightly.

"I sent him with Ammi…" Yomigami said noticing Gekigami roll his eyes. "Hey come on, you know he feels more comfortable around her…"

"He's trying to take her back. Haven't you noticed that?" Gekigami said in a rather annoyed tone. "That's all _he's been doing_ since we've got him as our prisoner. Once he's got her, then they'll go after Riku, and with Riku they'll get to Sora…" he didn't really know what else to say. "You…" he paused for a moment. "Forget it…" he said angrily walking away from his brother.

**Riku and Amaterasu **

"You know what Chasers are?" Amaterasu asked Riku. He shook his head, he only knew that Gabriel was one of them, and that Amaterasu and her brother were considered ex-Chasers along with her family. "If you look it up in the dictionary it says one who chases, or one who crafts metal. We…" she paused for a moment. "We're both… We created Keyblades, with no key-chains, and we soon learned how to make key-chains using our hearts… and we seek something of great power."

Riku processed the information with ease, but he still didn't know why she was telling him in the first place.

"See, with the memory spheres, there's a secret that Xehanort placed within one memory that can bring back the Dark Keyblade Master… Or rather how he defeated the Dark Keyblade Master. What Gabriel wants with the group he's in, they want to bring him back. What our group…" she pointed to herself. "What we want to do is find a way to keep from repeating that history. But… That's why Sora has to master the darkness, just in case if Gabriel does succeed."

"Is that why you want me to teach him?" Riku asked leaning forward a bit. "Why… Why can't you just teach him?" he looked back at her for a moment and she looked down at the ground below. She shook her head and looked back at him.

"It's not that simple… I can't, given my current condition." Amaterasu sounded a bit ashamed at it, but it was true. "I'm too unstable for it right now, and you, Riku, you can teach him." She said, her voice full of hope. "See only Chasers know how to use that certain sphere, and I'm almost more than sure that Maleficent is planning to have Gabriel find a host for that specific memory…"

"Host?" Riku asked looking back at her for a moment. She nodded.

"How Xehanort used you for one…" she said rubbing the back of her head. "They'll try and do that with someone who can wield a Keyblade, anyone… Possibly even try and get Sora to do it. If they do that, he'll be pretty strong. But he'd be useless if he doesn't learn how to master the darkness… For now we're safe… but once he does know he'll be in danger. Any Keyblade wielder would be a good candidate, even you…" she said looking at him.

"What about you?" Riku asked. "Would you be involved in that?" Amaterasu opened her mouth slightly, but couldn't really answer the question. She shrugged her shoulders and looked away. "You can wield a Keyblade after all."

There were parts Amaterasu left out, but for her own safety and his safety. Once Sora started to show signs that he was in fact the true Keyblade Master he'd be in trouble once she or any other Chaser caught sight of it. In a way thought it seemed more likely that Riku would somehow be used a host rather than Sora, since he shared more traits with the Dark Master himself.

She thought for a moment about her ability to wield a Keyblade. It did seem likely, but not at all possible. Amaterasu would be to preoccupied fighting off the urge to chase the true Keyblade Master down, as would Yomigami.

" Matsu?!" a girl's voice said in a slightly whining tone. "Hey come on we should get going…"

Amaterasu looked down from her seat on Curly Hill. She eyed two teens walking away from the area. She blinked for a moment and laughed at the sight. '_How cute, those two were probably on a date or something,_' Amaterasu thought for a moment and sighed heavily. Riku looked at the little scene under their gaze.

"Hey she looks sort of like you…" Riku said pointing to the darkly dressed mage. "She's got your skin color and all…"

"It's not polite to point…" Amaterasu said, but curiosity got the best of her. She watched the mage hold on to a young teens arm. The male teen had vampiric looking wings with claws and pointy shoes. "She looks younger than me though… Hey just because we've got the same skin color doesn't mean we're alike…"

"At least let's see the moon from Curly Hill, whatda ya say?" the male teen asked looking at the mage for a moment.

"Just really quick then…" the mage huffed. "You're mom is going to be SOOOOO mad at me though…"

"We've got twenty minutes before she calls the hotel I'm staying at…" the vampiric teen said laughing for a moment. "You worry WAY too much."

"I'm guessing we should leave…" Riku whispered to Amaterasu. He could hear their footsteps get louder. Amaterasu nodded, but it was too late.

"Heartless?" the female mage sounded alarmed.

"No…" Amaterasu said standing up carefully from the summit of Curly Hill. "Humans… We come in peace." She said waving to the two teens. "We're just getting ready to leave, so this spot is all yours." The female mage was embarrassed and laughed nervously.

"I'm sorry it's just that, that guy there looks like a Heartless…" she said referring to Riku's appearance. The only thing noticeable from Riku was the fact that he had teeth and eyes, since everything else was covered in darkness. The female mage apologized and looked back at the teen she was with. "I didn't think anyone would be here…" the girl said smiling slightly.

"We can come back some other time…" the male teen said, but the girl began to protest at the idea. The male teen thoughts about it for a moment and shook his head. "I mean…"

"No Matsu," the mage shook her head. "It's been ages since I've seen you and I wanted to spend a lot of time with you and…" her voice trailed into a gentle whisper, feeling embarrassed at the fact that the other two teens were present.

"You two live far away from one another?" Amaterasu couldn't help but ask. She let her curiosity take a hold of her judgment on the whole situation. The female mage looked back at her and nodded slightly. "How'd you two meet?" she asked. Riku couldn't help but look at Amaterasu in amazement for a moment, it was the first time he saw her so interested in someone else's personal life.

"Ah, wait…" the mage said sitting next to Amaterasu. "We haven't introduced ourselves. My name is Seruma." She said outstretching her hand, both Riku and Amaterasu shook the friendly hand. "And this guy here it Matsu." She said referring to the vampiric looking teen. He had slightly shaggy brown hair with matching brown eyes. He extended his hand and shook the other two teen's hands, the boy sat down next to the mage.

"My name's Riku," the Heartless like human said leaning forward a bit to get a better view of the two teens. He looked back at Amaterasu and she smiled slightly, and she turned her gaze to the other two newcomers.

"My name is Amaterasu." She said nodding to both Matsu and Seruma. To Amaterasu they seemed like very friendly people, someone you could get along with. "So then, you guys are here on a date then?" the two laughed nervously and the girl shrugged. "It's okay you don't have say anything."

"We met…" Seruma began fidgeting with the lace around her outfit. "Believe it or not, I use to write stories…" she stopped herself a moment fighting off the urge to laugh or giggle slightly. "Well we met as he calls it through predestination," she looked back at Matsu for a moment. "I believe it was that too. Anyway we kept in touch through e-mails and reviews and stuff like that. One day he surprised me and came to visit me after a couple of months of talking and stuff…"

"Aw, that's cute." Amaterasu said she couldn't help but smile. The younger male teen couldn't help but laugh a bit, but it seemed he was blushing too. "You two seem like a really cute couple, that's for sure."

"Well you and Riku look like a really good couple." Seruma said noticing Riku almost fall backwards. She laughed at the sudden movement and thought about something for a moment. "Are you guys together?" Riku and Amaterasu shook their heads, and Amaterasu laughed for a moment and Riku gave a small smile. "I jut thought you'd be together, because of the costumes you're wearing. They match in color, and since they're Heartless types I just thought… You know…"

"Hey," Matsu spoke up this time clearing his throat for a moment. "How old are you Amaterasu?" he asked because her appearance was slightly older looking compared to his date. Amaterasu smiled, her legs rocking back and forth over the ledge of the summit.

"I'm seventeen." She said with a bit smile on her lips. "How about you two?" she asked noticing Seruma laugh a bit at the question. Seruma said her age and Amaterasu smiled a bit. "So you're a _come año_ too."

"You speak Spanish too?" Matsu and Seruma asked. "That's what my mom calls me." Seruma said rubbing the back of her head. "It's a good thing, but it'll suck when I want to go to a bar or something."

From their talk Matsu turned out to be younger than Seruma. It didn't make a difference to them at all, since the two were happy around one another. It got Amaterasu thinking about her own love life, and she wanted what Matsu and Seruma had. She wanted someone who would stay with her, and in turn she would stay with that person. Someone who could understand her pain, and in turn she could help them out with their problems, and understand their pain as well.

"Well we should get going." Matsu said helping Seruma stand up carefully. "It was really nice talking with the two of you." Amaterasu and Riku nodded and wished the two a safe journey and good luck. "You too!" the other two said, and soon the only thing you could see were silhouettes of what appeared to be people leaving the area.

Riku and Amaterasu stayed quiet after that, and they were thinking about the whole idea of the long distance relationship that the other two had. To Riku he thought back to how Matsu had said that the distance was what made their hearts strong. It seemed to be true, when he thought back to when he was separated from her for those first couple of months.

Amaterasu on the other hand thought back to an old phrase her mother once said '_amor de lejos es amor de pendejos_'. Seruma had just disproved that within the moment she began to tell her tale. The female mage had said that was what kept her going, knowing that one day she would disprove that phrase. '_I'm glad they were able to meet, and still keep their relationship._' Amaterasu thought sighing happily for a moment.

"What are you think about, Amaterasu?" Riku couldn't help but ask her. He noticed the happy look on her facial expression, and she seemed to be lost in thought. She said something under hear breath, and laughed at it. "What?" he asked again, not really hearing her.

"Us." She said looking back at him. She pointed to herself and to Riku, "Me and you." Amaterasu was a bit embarrassed, but she decided to say it anyway. "It got me thinking, that's all. I'm just wondering if maybe one day we'll find someone who can make us as happy as those two." She said smiling at Riku. "You think we can?"

Riku would've loved to have said the words 'I already found someone who does' but of course he didn't. He nodded in answer to the question she asked and he looked back up at the moon that was in full view from Curly Hill. Each breath he took he felt as though he was on top of the world. His heart didn't ache, and he could feel his darkness slowly melt away, but when he would doubt it all, that's when he felt the stabbing pain traverse again.

"There's something I've wanted to tell you," Riku said feeling Amaterasu's gaze on him. She watched the Heartless looking human speak, white teeth clearly visible, indicating he had a mouth. His amber eyes lowered their gaze down to the ground beneath their feet, and he breathed in for a moment. "I've been wanting to tell you for a really long time now…" he said feeling a bit shy around the subject. "I just don't really know _how_ to say it though."

Amaterasu felt a small prick in her chest, and it felt warm. The warmth traveled down to the pit of her stomach making her feel slightly uneasy at the whole talk now. '_Riku, you don't have to say it… It's just really uncomfortable now…_' she thought hoping for something that would help break the ice of it all now.

There was a gentle wind and she noticed the loose bandages wrapped around his arms, they swayed at which ever direction the wind blew. Riku's own amber eyes locked with hers for a moment creating an awkward silence between the two. Amaterasu was the first one to laugh slightly and she shook her head. Riku smiled slightly looking at the girl before him, she meant everything to him, and he wanted her to know that.

"You don't really have to say it…" Amaterasu said looking back at Riku for a moment. She smiled at the Keyblade wielder who used 'Way to Dawn'. She looked back down again and placed a gentle hand on his. "It's okay if you can't say it. I'm not going to be upset or anything…" he squeezed her hand gently, she could feel his claws lightly tap her closed hand.

"It's just awkward…" Riku said looking back at her. "With everything's that happened, I mean I can't say it now." He felt happy just holding her hand like this. He didn't care if he could say what he wanted to say, or not. For now this feeling she gave him, was the best feeling in the world. She made him forget about his pain, and his strife with the darkness in his heart.

"I don't act upon my impulses…" Amaterasu said looking at Riku's amber eyes for a moment. She tried to figure out what she wanted to say. "If anything I'm scared with stuff like that. I'd just rather be in my hole, and watch time move over my head… but you…" she looked back at him this time giving him a big smile, her eyes were closed for a moment. "You got me out of that hole…" she said holding his hand tighter. "You took your time to talk to me when no one else did… You were the very first friend I made in ages!" she said laughing.

"I should be saying that to you!" Riku said laughing at the words coming from her mouth. "You were the one who _helped me_ with my problems. I didn't do anything to help you like that!" he said shaking his head. "I was just minding my own business that day…"

"So then, it was fate!" Amaterasu said thinking back to what Seruma and Matsu had said a while back. "It seems likely, doesn't it?" she asked watching Riku nod happily.

"But still… I haven't done anything to help you…" Riku said feeling some regret thinking back to all the wonderful things she had done for him during their stay on the islands. "I want to help, Amaterasu…" he said sincerely and she looked down for a moment. "I want to see you smile more, I want to hear you laugh more. I miss that." He said honestly, noticing a small blush on her face. "I want you to tell me your pain…" she looked back at him slightly and sighed heavily. "It's okay to tell me, I won't tell anyone. I don't mind if you get angry or you cry, it's okay to do that sometimes, okay?" she nodded slightly. "But then why don't you do that?" she shrugged.

"I run away… I don't like getting angry so much, or anything like that…" she said sighing for a moment. "Anyway I don't think you can help me like that…" Riku protested and she shook her head at his advances. "It'll take _ages _for that pain in my heart to leave. I mean I still don't have my own light yet…" she said and Riku looked away at her for moment. "I'm still looking for one, and I'm sure you're still looking for one too."

"I already have…" Riku said a bit disheartened now. He held on tighter to her hand, feeling his heart ache a bit more. Amaterasu's own heart ached slightly, and she held on to his hand. "You, Amaterasu…" she looked up at him her eyes began to widen for a moment. "You're my light. You've always been my light."

Amaterasu closed her eyes tightly feeling the darkness advance a bit more, and she squeezed Riku's hand tightly. She felt a pair of arms wrap around her quickly and she fought off the urge to scream from the pain. She buried her head into his chest and felt the darkness stop for a moment. Amaterasu wrapped her arms about him and heaved a sort of shaky sigh. She shook her head, and Riku's gentle voice entered her mind, and again she shook her head.

"Darkness can't be someone's light…" she said in a soft whisper. "That's impossible." Riku let a small smile escape his lips and he didn't plan on letting her go anytime soon. "I can't be your light Riku. I don't have any in me." That was the only way she could think of getting the message across.

"Even in the deepest darkness," Riku said whispering it gently into her ear. "There's a light that never goes out. Remember that," he said kissing the top of her head gently. "There's always going to be someone there for you. I'm here for you, Amaterasu." He said closing his eyes for a moment.

"It hurts," she managed to whisper out. "My heart's been hurting for so long." She opened her eyes faintly and closed them again. "I didn't think that someone would call me their light. I never thought that, not once." Riku held her tighter and she held him tighter once she said that. "I thought after losing someone close to me I wouldn't find someone else who could make me that happy. Someone who could make me feel so alive. I was afraid to love someone like that again. I don't understand what my heart wants, but I know I want you here with me."

"It's a start," he said kissing the side of her cheek. "I'm not going to leave you anytime soon. I'll stay with you till the ends of time, I'll promise you that." He heard her laugh happily and she hugged him tighter. His breath tickled the back of her neck, and it made her laugh when he would talk softly. "You want to stay here a bit longer?" and she nodded resting her head on his chest.

"Just don't breathe on me…" she said looking up at him, and she gave a small chuckle as she felt his lips on the side of her cheek. "I'm glad to know you won't leave me." Her tone of voice was in a low whisper, she was almost afraid to say it.

Riku brought of his clawed hands to the side of her face, and she felt a claw slowly trace the side of her cheek. Amaterasu smiled and looked at Riku, she felt at peace. She felt like she was on top of the world, everything seemed perfect to her. She felt safe in his arms, and he no doubt felt safe in hers. He wanted to protect her, she was precious to him, and she in turn would do anything to protect him. He leaned in carefully smiling at her, and she leaned in.

The feeling they felt, so close to it being expressed with what people call a 'lover's vow'. It seemed to perfect for it to be real, but this was no dream, nothing could go wrong at all for this moment. The stars were dancing around in the night sky, and the moon was as majestic as ever, it was full and it had nothing to hide for this night. Riku leaned in feeling his breath against her lips and for a moment he hesitated.

"Yoo-hoo!" a voice shrieked into the whole grounds surrounding Curly Hill. "RIKU, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" the voice asked sounding rather furious. "You idiot, he's going to kill you! You're trying to screw with Ammi's head aren't you?! It's a good thing I came Ammi, he probably would've gotten into your pants!"

Riku pulled away and looked at the zombie looking figure. "HI, GABRIEL!" Amaterasu said waving from the summit of Curly Hill. "You have BAD TIMING!" she said cupping her hands over her mouth to create a megaphone effect. Riku on the other hand would strangle Gabriel with his own chains. He finally had a good moment, and Gabriel dropped in at the wrong time.

"I saved you!" Gabriel said making his awkward way up to the hill. "He would've taken away a precious moment from you." He said laughing at the whole idea. "Two teens kissing up on the summit of a hill… That spells S-E…" The only thing Gabriel remembered was falling backwards on the hill with Riku trying to go for his neck. Amaterasu on the other hand covered her face shaking her head again. '_My friends…_' she thought looking up at the night sky for a moment.

"I'm going to kill you!" Amaterasu heard Riku's voice loud and clear, and Gabriel was laughing away at the threat.

"How can you kill want you can't catch?" Gabriel said laughing a bit more as he stood up, in his own manner. "Besides ending a date with murder isn't very memorable, it might cause more emotional damage…"

"Can't I just have a nice day like everyone else?!" Amaterasu asked walking down Curly Hill. "Is that really all too much to ask for?"

"You're not like everyone else…" it was the first time Gabriel and Riku said something in unison. They each made a gagging sound as they finished the sentence.

**A/N: You know what to do _one_ review please! **

_come años _means someone who appears younger than they really are.


	26. Found You

**A/N: I've been in a pretty good mood so here's the next chapter!**

**Chapter Twenty-Six: Found You **

Gabriel was smiling at the wonders of his intrusion on what had almost been a prefect moment for the two teens. If it wasn't because of Amaterasu, Riku most likely would've killed Gabriel on the spot, or something close to killing him anway. Amaterasu on the other hand was still a bit in a daze from what almost had happened, it was so close, but Gabriel popped up at the right, if not bad, time. She looked back at Gabriel for a moment still trying to figure out what to say.

"Heartless got your tongue?" Gabriel said jokingly as he nudged his head toward Riku's direction. "I saved your ass, girl. Heck, who the hell knows what would've happened…" he cringed at the thought. "Ew tongues all over on teeth…" he made a fake gagging sound, and Amaterasu couldn't help but laugh at his nature.

"You were waiting, weren't you?" she asked in a low whisper. He smirked triumphantly, telling her that was his style, and she sighed for a moment. "Yeah well you could've waited till…"

"You wanted him to…? Amaterasu you sly thing you…" he said laughing at his ex-comrade. "If your brothers heard you…" she covered his mouth quickly shaking her head as they walked. Her face turned to that of disgust as she felt saliva run down on one of her fingers. "I hate when you do that!" he whispered harshly to the girl. "It makes me feel like a kid." She eyed him cautiously, cleaning her hand on his shirt. "Ok… Fine…"

The three of them walked away from Curly Hill, and things seemed to go back into motion once again. Riku was still himself, and so were Amaterasu and Gabriel. Riku was still fuming at the fact of Gabriel's horrible timing. In a way Amaterasu was glad he did show up at that point, she would've felt too awkward if it did happen. Somehow the girl did forgive Gabriel, he was just that kind of person, he didn't really feel the need to express himself with actions like that, he had his own ways.

The three of them stopped at the entrance to the Hinterlands, looking at the decorated doors of the different holidays. The one they needed was with the Christmas tree, but for some reason they couldn't find it. Riku instinctively looked at Gabriel, and Gabriel glared at him slightly, with a look that said 'it's not me'.

"Someone's here…" Amaterasu said feeling chills run down her spin. "I can feel it." The air around the area became cold, and her breathing was visible. Riku looked around slightly, feeling something breathe down the back of his neck. He instinctively looked up but he saw nothing.

Gabriel moved closer to Amaterasu scanning the area with the same scrutiny their Chaser like nature provided. They felt something, but saw nothing, which was a bad sign indeed, someone was sending a type of assassin, or rather a warning if the assassin failed. Gabriel drew out a long breath hoping to lure the creature, or person out of hiding but nothing happened. Amaterasu watched Riku slowly, as he moved forward, but as she tried to warn him he was caught in a trap.

A dark material wrapped around his leg, and hoisted him up into the air, he was suspended in mid air, and most likely the assassin held the chain. Amaterasu tried to move, but Gabriel pushed her slightly. If she got caught then she wouldn't be able to get to Riku, or likely keep Gabriel alive for their plans.

Riku tried desperately to free himself trying to pry the material off of his leg, but at that point he was flung against the trunk of a tree. Amaterasu hissed slightly, but didn't dare move until the assassin showed its face. The two of them were running out of time, and still they did not move an inch. Gabriel's purple eyes looked up clearly seeing a figure materialize before his own eyes. Amaterasu followed his gaze, and noticed a figure sitting up in a tree grinning mischievously, swaying their legs back and forth.

Riku couldn't muster anymore strength feeling the blood rush to his head all quickly. He was going to pas out any second and his vision was coming and going, all he could see were two figures standing very far away from him.

"It's not him you want!" Amaterasu yelled pulling out 'One Winged Angel'. She gripped the handle tightly with both hands, and noticed the figure let out a small laugh. Gabriel growled slightly watching the figure come down gracefully from the top of the bare tree. Once Riku had passed out the figure sat him up with care and turned their gaze back to the other two.

"Then, who should I want? I know this is Riku…" the figure asked with some malicious in their voice. It seemed female from the looks of it, but the outfit made it hard to distinguish the anatomy. The female held on tight to the black material taunting the other two with it. "I take it _you're_ Gabriel." The female said pointing to the chained man. Her arm moved directions to the other girl. "You… You must be… Amaterasu." She laughed slightly. "It's my lucky day then! My orders are to take all three of you back to her ladyship."

Gabriel looked at Amaterasu and shrugged his shoulders. Amaterasu blinked and looked back at the female with a confused look sketched onto her facial features. Amaterasu let her Keyblade linger dangerously close to the binds that prevented Gabriel from escaping. A Keyblade with a key-chain could break binds created by other Keyblades with key-chains. It was common knowledge to any Keyblade wielder. If it was another time other than that time Amaterasu would never have done what she did, but she wanted to protect Riku, and the assassin before them had a very strong nature around her.

Gabriel heard the chains break off from his wrist and ankles and he stretched his aching joints for a second or two. "Luck, lucky day indeed…" he said outstretching his hands, and in an instant a weapon appeared that seemed to hold great pride and power. It had no hilt on it, but the blade was as large as a human body. Amaterasu had seen the weapon while she was young, but now it seemed like a distant thing in her eyes.

"You intend to fight me?" the female asked laughing at the thought of it all. "Surely you must be joking? An ex-Chaser, and a clown." She said pulling out what appeared to be two firearms from her side pockets. She fired her first round with ease, and Amaterasu and Gabriel did acrobatic movements to dodge the deadly bullets. "I've been ordered _not_ to kill you, _but_ it doesn't mean I can't wound you."

Gabriel jumped into the air, brought the weapon high into the air and as the dust cleared from the impact of the attack that assassin cocked the gun and Gabriel felt something dangerously close to his head, within moments he seemed to re-appear in back of the assassin humming a little tune. Amaterasu moved slowly at first studying the assassins movement's, she would dodge then fire, and use any means of magic to trap the opponent.

Amaterasu got close to the assassin as she displayed a perfect Sonic Blade attack, moments from the impact, a kick landed her back onto the ground. Gabriel took it from there and the assassin moved back a bit as she blocked the attack with some strain. Melee attacks weren't Amaterasu's specialty even if she knew how to block, she didn't assume the assassin knew from that point, but that's what got her on the ground.

She recovered and Gabriel jumped back protecting himself from a bullet, it ricocheted off the surface, and it narrowly avoided direct impact with Amaterasu's head. The girl panted a bit at the sudden fright, and the assassin moved in on her. Amaterasu did a back flip, and as she landed on the ground a gun shot was heard. Luckily Amaterasu used Reflect to protect herself for that small instance in time. The assassin laughed at the choice of spell and complimented her on the quick reflex.

"Who sent you?" Amaterasu asked blocking a high kick from the assassin. The assassin chuckled for a moment and jumped back. Her gun had no more ammunition left, and personally they weren't her style of weapon. She brought out a pair of kunai and got into a defensive stance. "Who sent you?" Amaterasu asked again stepping back for a moment. The assassin jumped into the air, and threw a kunai hoping for Amaterasu to block it.

Amaterasu jumped back and placed a Thunder spell on the kunai in her hands. It didn't do that much damage to her, but it was enough to catch her off guard. Amaterasu was an inch away, and the assassin felt a painful jab on her stomach, and she groaned in pain. The Keyblade had broken the surface of skin on her stomach and the girl grinned slightly. It was then that Amaterasu noticed something about the assassin, there was a familiar marking on her cheek.

Gabriel moved in and jabbed his weapon deep within in the assassin's shoulder rendering her right arm useless. Amaterasu jumped back and noticed that the figure wasn't bleeding, but rather disappearing. The assassin gave a pained smile and her voice was still as clear as it had been when she found them.

"Maleficent sent me…" the Heartless said looking up for a moment. "There will be more like me again and again." She was created artificially as that was the symbol she carried on her. "I just wanted to get it over with…" she started to laugh for a moment feeling her body disappear. "The Princesses of Heart… That's what she told me to tell you, Gabriel."

With that the Heartless disappeared and so did the black material that held Riku. The Heartless looking teen was still unconscious. Gabriel and Amaterasu looked at one another in a rather confused manner. A Heartless with a human appearance, that action had not been done in years. Amaterasu scratched the back of her head and looked at Gabriel for a moment trying to figure out what the Heartless meant by the 'Princesses of Heart'. As if he read her mind he shook his head and withdrew his weapon back to where ever it came from.

"Seven maidens with the purest hearts…" Amaterasu said withdrawing her Keyblade. "What the heck does that witch want with them?" she looked back at Gabriel and he knew nothing. "Well I know Kairi's one of them…"

"Anyway…" Gabriel was just glad to be free from those chains. "It's a good thing you let me go. Those things were killing me…" he hugged her tightly and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Thank you!" he said squeezing her again. She made a little sound and he ignored it for a moment. "Oh… We should probably get your boyfriend and take him back…"

"Yeah…" Amaterasu said finally being able to breathe again. She walked to the tree and looked at Riku, he wasn't bleeding or anything he was just unconscious. Amaterasu looked back at Gabriel who pointed out that the door to Christmas Town reappeared out of thin air. "Help me pick him up." The girl said looking back at her ex-comrade.

"So then, you agree that he's your boyfriend?" Gabriel said helping his younger ex-comrade with the boy. "Because if I'm not mistaken you did agree when I said that." Amaterasu rolled her eyes and shook her head. Gabriel had Riku on his back now and walked alongside Amaterasu sighing in relief. "At least he doesn't smell like a Heartless. Those things reek really bad… I can't believe they found us." He said in a tone that was rather surprising. "You know though, pretty soon you're going to have to come back, whether you want to or not. Your nature will take over…"

The girl looked away and didn't say anything. The three of them walked through the door of Christmas Town. Snow was still falling, and their clothing changed back into its appropriate attire so that they could blend in with the town. The snow beneath their feet crunched slowly with each step they took back to that small home where the others were at. To the two of them it brought back a sense of nostalgia watching the snow fall down like that. Gabriel looked back at Amaterasu and smiled slightly. She returned the smile with one of her own.

When they were still comrades the two of them would get stuck with Lucifer on missions. Lucifer would end up getting knocked out just like Riku had gotten knocked out and Gabriel then would end up carrying him back. Amaterasu would always end up getting stuck with infirmary duty, addressing wounds and concussions, but those days were far behind her mind and Gabriel's mind now.

"They're not going to like what you did." Gabriel said as the two navigated through the snow. She didn't care whether or not they liked it, all that mattered was that Riku and him were safe. "Sora might put me back on those chains though, or I could just leave after that… I don't want to leave you guys now. I'd rather keep running away from that witch."

"The Princesses…" Amaterasu said tuning her hearing in and out. "I think she wants you to taint their hearts… Creating those fabled Dark Princesses, you know the ones that were mentioned around the time of that Dark Master."

"Great… I have to taint that little runt's girlfriend…" he said with some disgust in his voice. "I hate my job…" Amaterasu arched an eyebrow.

"I've been thinking…" Amaterasu said before they reached the steps of home. "I want to… I, uh…"

"You want to go back?" Gabriel asked softly. "You can feel it can't you?" she didn't say anything but looked down at the snow that covered her feet. For now she was glad Riku didn't hear the conversation.

**A/N: You know what to do _one_ review please!**


	27. Sunset Horizon and Lightning

**A/N: Thanks you guys for the reviews, here's your next chapter!**

**On with the story!**

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Sunset Horizon and Lightning **

It had been a couple of days since the Heartless had relayed that message to Gabriel. Amaterasu had to lie and say Gabriel had been taken back to Maleficent. That was untrue, he was somewhere within the area keeping his presence to a minimum. Around night though Amaterasu's behavior would change as she locked herself in a room and wouldn't come out for hours. At some points it sounded like she was talking to someone, and that was true.

Sora had just gotten the sphere from this world, and they would soon be leaving. Amaterasu decided that once everyone boarded the ship she would keep out of sight and go back to where she assumed she belonged. The sphere contained a vital clue about the Dark Master and Princesses of Heart. As it turns out the Princesses of Heart had kept his power to a minimum, rendering him almost into a weak state.

Xehanort in the memory sphere had been tempted by the darkness and acted as the Dark Master's host. Ven had lost against him and Aquan had been injured in the process of their fight against their friend. The red and black figure that had chased them was a rather weak apparition of the Dark Master himself, it was his Heartless. With Xehanort as his host, he was able to keep some worlds under total darkness.

_"So then, you think it's Roxas and not Sora?" Amaterasu asked staring out the window. She had her cell phone in hand speaking to Gabriel in the dead of night. _

_"It's likely, well more than likely. You said so yourself, Ven looked like Roxas… Riku, he doesn't have a Nobody of his own, does he?" _

_"No," Amaterasu said shaking her head for a moment. The snow was still falling down, and some of the cold ice landed on her window. "Not to my knowledge." _

_"Hmm… Well for Sora and his Nobody we can have Yen Sid teach him. He use to deal with dark arts and stuff like that." Gabriel said laughing. "Once Sora does master it, he'll look just like Ven." _

_"Still it's weird that Xehanort and him are able to use the same Keyblade as Ven and Sora did too. I'm beginning to think Aquan and the King are related, since they use the same Keyblade in addition." _

_"Well, we'll just have to wait and see. That's going to be painful though for the three of us, fighting off the urge to hunt down the true master of the Keyblade. Anyway, is Riku still unconscious?" _

_"I've been knocking him out this past couple of days!" Amaterasu said whispering, so as not to disturb the others. "I'm running out of sleeping pills…" _

_"Just bear with it a bit longer. Once Sora and the others are boarding…" _

_"But what about Yomigami and Gekigami?" she asked letting emotional attachment get the best of her. _

_"We'll take them too. We're going to that place…" _

**A m a t e r a s u **

The plan was simple enough, and to my surprise it was carried out so flawlessly. Sora and the others were getting ready to board the gummi ship when a Heartless started to endanger the ship. Yomigami had been informed of the plan to some degree and he ordered Sora to leave without us, including himself and Gekigami. Riku of course has still been rendered unconscious but I know it's not going to last long.

Yomigami and Gekigami are indifferent to my decision on going back. In a way I think they knew I was going to go back, they just never thought I'd take Riku along with me. See my plan is that once Riku becomes the host for the sphere, that he can destroy it, so that it can never happen again. I know that Gabriel doesn't have a clue about that bit, and we'll have to be the darkness so we can wreck it from the inside. If that doesn't work, and Sora doesn't take hold of Roxas' appearance I can sacrifice myself, being the sphere's host.

For right now I won't dwell on that fact until for certain we have the candidate on who is chosen to be the sphere's host. As of right now Sora and Kairi are on their way to Yen Sid, and no doubt the King must be there too. I just hope that Sora and Kairi continue their mission and get the rest of those spheres. We're going to be too busy trying to wreck the enemy from the inside. Maleficent is no pushover, she's a very powerful witch, and having her place me in a rank is going to be tough.

Riku won't have any trouble though, since he was after all in her rank. She gave him power, and he used it. He in turn once being possessed by Xehanort gave her darkness, but the tale ends there since Sora defeated her. Out of all the reason's she wants to bring back the Dark Keyblade Master, I'm guessing she wants to throw the worlds into the days when darkness ruled with an unbreakable will.

I looked back and sighed watching Riku finally wake up from his five day nap session as I call it. He sat groggily and looked back at me for a couple of minutes, still trying to get his brain to finally wake up. I smiled at him for a moment, feeling indifferent about the situation that was going to unfold. '_Once he wakes up I'm suppose to call Gabriel…_' I thought dialing numbers on the keypad of the cell phone in my grasp.

"He's awake…" I said whispering slightly.

"I'm already outside the door!" a voice was muffled from the outside. I stuck my head out from the window and looked at Gabriel waving his arms frantically. He had hung up on his cell phone and he seemed to be in a good mood.

"Who was that?" Riku asked yawning for a moment. I rubbed the back of my head and laughed nervously.

"Gabriel…" I said trying to laugh it all off, but it didn't work. Riku started yelling, still that got his brain to wake up. "Calm down… He saved you while you were knocked out." I said, it was only half right, but Riku didn't need to know the rest, so it was all right with me. "It was a Heartless that knocked you out. She gave us a clue about the Dark Keyblade Master and all…" I left out the part about the Princesses of Heart, I'll tell him later about that. "For now, Gabriel said he'll take us to Maleficent… He's been planning a rebellion for years."

"And I suppose he just told you that?" I know he didn't trust him, but I still nodded at the lie I had just told him. "Where are Sora and the others?"

"They had to leave. Well just Kairi and Sora, Yen Sid called for them personally, so that means they're somewhere in Twilight Town…"

I hate lying about things like this, but I need to in order for things to go smoothly. Within a matter of minutes and stuff Riku got ready and we headed outside with Gekigami, Yomigami and Gabriel. Gabriel had his own gummi ship close by the area and from then on out we were heading out to Radiant Gardens to go talk to Maleficent.

**R i k u **

'_We'll be the darkness…_' I never thought I'd find myself back here again with that witch. It's just really awkward. Amaterasu and Gabriel are doing all the talking while Gekigami, Yomigami, and I are just sitting there. Amaterasu told me earlier that we would have to work from the inside to take it down quickly. I still don't really know if we can since the darkness might be tempting to me or to Amaterasu. Still I mean somehow we can bring Maleficent and the darkness down, so I'm not going to worry. I'll trust in Amaterasu, but I'm not that ready to trust Gabriel all that much.

It's been a couple of days since we've been in Maleficent's stronghold. It's located within the ruins of the old Hollow Bastion castle, and we aren't leaving anytime soon. From what Pete and the Heartless have been able to gather Sora is studying with Yen Sid, and we're going to 'strike' once Sora has completed his training, it doesn't seem like a winning strategy but then again we're not here to win.

Amaterasu and I have been spending our time in the training room just sparring and talking from time to time. Gabriel does drop by, just to bug me, and then act innocently towards Amaterasu. I don't know how she puts up with his whole individuality, she says it's a very complex personality, one that has a couple of layers, like an onion. I don't like onions so I don't think I could ever see him as a friend or comrade like she does.

"You know…" she sighed for a moment after stretching after our match. "We're going to have to take those sphere's she has…" Amaterasu said yawning for a moment. "We've got most of them back in Radiant Gardens…" I nodded. That was true, we do have the upper hand on the whole thing.

Maleficent didn't seem too pleased with the fact that Gabriel came back empty handed, but with new 'additions' she did seemed to change. When she saw me she changed a bit, and when she saw Amaterasu she changed drastically, giving us some 'warm' hospitality. I sighed and looked back at Amaterasu for a moment, I would've given anything to kiss her right there on the spot, but knowing my luck for now Gabriel would pop out of the shadows.

"What are you think about?" she asked with a big smile. I laughed for a moment and smiled back at her shaking my head. "Hey come on no fair, what's so funny now?" she asked pouting for a moment. Before I knew it she jumped onto my back and laughed again. "Hey…"

"It's nothing…" I said lying smoothly for a moment. "I'm just thinking about what we're doing here…" I heard her laugh close to my ear. I tried hard not to shiver at the sudden closeness between myself and Amaterasu. She wrapped her arms around my neck gently, and I was able to hoist her up slightly.

"I can tell you why…" she said. I caught the smile spread across her face. "We're here to be the darkness. We're going to analyze our enemy and then take them apart. It's a sign of true genius…" she paused for a moment and then looked at me with her crimson and amber eyes. "But then again a true genius appears when there's an army of dunces against him…" she rested her chin on my shoulder and breathed in, and then exhaled loudly, probably out of boredom.

Her breath had the distinct smell of coffee, she was for lack of a better word, obsessed with the caffeinated liquid. She blamed it on her mother's upbringing for giving her coffee at the tender age of three years old. Me personally, I never did like coffee a lot, it tasted weird for me. I looked back at her for a moment trying to think of what to do, or at least what to say. I didn't mind that I was giving her a piggy back ride, but it felt weird just standing there.

"Take a left here!" she whispered into my ear. Somehow she placed me in a trance to wander around the castle, looking at all the rooms in the hallway that was located on the same floor as the training room. We ended up going into a room that was probably locked for a reason, but Amaterasu picked the lock with ease and we went in. Curiosity took a hold of our judgment, not making error and consequence part of the plan in our heads. I set her down and we looked around the dim room.

Stain glass windows covered the room, with black and red, with some purple fragments of the colored glass. The sun at one point hit the glass at the right angle and the colors leaped out onto the floor and the walls. Amaterasu watched the sight for a moment and then let her hand wander around the bookshelves picking out a small dusty brown leather book. She blew on it, and coughed for a bit as the dust kicked up and the spine pooped and cracked as she opened it, it hadn't been opened in a while.

"When darkness touches their hearts, the day will draw near when the Darkness will appear. The light will fall at the magnitude of the Dark One and not even the hearts of the purest will cleanse this Dark Age. For the maidens shall fall at the power of the darkness in their hearts. That will be the day the Dark Master will appear, when the purest give in to darkness, all shall fear…" Amaterasu recited that passage with some concern in the tone of her voice. "To extinguish the fire the darkness and light must be pulled out from the Chosen One and fight against the Dark One, and all will be at peace." She closed the book slightly and placed it back into the shelf she found it in. "We should go now…" Amaterasu said softly.

"Yeah…" I said out stretching my hand to her, and she took hold of it. We walked out of the room, letting the passage sink in to our hearts and thoughts. Someone was running down the hallway, you could hear their footsteps get louder and louder with each second as they moved quickly. The two of us looked up and noticed a familiar face with purple eyes. "_Great_…" I said sarcastically, sighing as Gabriel stopped within earshot of us.

"All alone, huh?" Gabriel said with that little goofy smile of his. He shook his head for a moment and yanked Amaterasu and me forward. "You guys pick a lousy time to rendezvous…" Amaterasu laughed slightly and I growled a bit feeling the little Heartless in me growl in annoyance. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. You two can do that on your own time…" he led us up two flights of stairs, purple stained windows covered this part of the hallway now. "Maleficent called a meeting, and you two are making us late…"

**A m a t e r a s u **

I call this room the Purple Room, but I doubt that's its real name. Anyway Yomigami and Gekigami were sitting next to me. When Riku, Gabriel, and myself entered the room there was an awkward silence in the room. Gabriel completely forgetting that he was holding both of our hands laughed nervously and let our hands go when Maleficent looked at him with a cold stare. The witch instructed us to sit down as she stood up, her back facing the alter like construction of the meeting room.

In the middle of the table where we sat at was a giant rose patter with thorns all around it, it had gloomy colors on it, and by that I mean these dark colors. Purple, crimson, black, and this sickly gray color. Maleficent outstretched her hand and a green flame appeared in the middle of the table. A small green tinted projection appeared, it looked like the shadow of another world. I leaned forward in my seat and watched as the projection seemed to zoom in, it was pinpointing a specific location.

"What's that world?" I asked shyly in front of her. Her cold yellow like eyes stared deep into my soul, she could sense that I was scared of her, but I guess she let it slide or something. She took a small breath and waved a hand into the air, making a dramatic pause that added more to my fear, since the look in her eyes were so menacing, it just made me feel uneasy.

"Sunset Horizon." She said in that manner of hers. I looked back at the others and the shrugged for a moment. "This is where the fabled Keyblade War started, or rather where it took place when the Dark Master was challenged by those fools." I'm assuming she was referring to the first Chasers, which are Ven, Aquan, and Xehanort himself. "I'm going to send the five of you there to that world. It's more than likely that _his_ sphere is in that world, but be on your guard, the King's lackeys might be there, or he himself might be there."

"That mouse?!" Gabriel asked in a rather harsh whisper. His whisper did reach her as she said not to underestimate the power of King Mickey, since he too was there during the time that Keyblade War took place. He had seen the aftermath of the Keyblade War himself and it was likely he began a journey of his own after that. "You've got three… Well one true Chaser, and two ex-Chasers on the job, you shouldn't have to worry about that small little mouse."

**After the Meeting **

"What's your name?" Amaterasu asked looking at the figure standing beside her. This was Amaterasu's guard, since Yomigami had made a request to the dark witch, and she in turn did complete her end of the deal. The figure shook her head and said she had no name. "I have to name you?" Amaterasu asked in a rather childlike tone, and the figure nodded slightly. "What to name a Heartless?" she thought for a moment and then brought her hand up in the air. "I got it! I shall call you, Lightning!"

"Lightning." The Heartless said feeling no emotion at the sudden joy Amaterasu had placed on the name. Amaterasu smiled slightly and pulled the Heartless alongside her. To the Heartless she found it useful to mimic the same happiness the girl before her felt, since it was suppose to be a joyous occasion for finding a name for her. "Why that name?" the Heartless asked.

"Amaterasu, why are you going through the trouble?" Riku asked as he had stayed by her side when Gabriel presented her with the Heartless. "It's a Heartless after all, not a human. Two completely different things."

"It looks human, therefore I'll treat it like one!" the girl said looking at Riku for a moment smiling at the look on his face. "I call you Lightning, because you remind me of another person. You, see you… You look like Cloud's female counterpart." She said addressing it to the female Heartless before her.

Her name was Lightning now, and from what Amaterasu could tell she seemed to like the name, whether or not a Heartless could show emotion, something just told her in her heart that she did in fact agree to the name. 'Lightning' as she was now called had light dirty blonde hair that seemed to become darker when in the shadows. Her hair seemed to be cut in layers, with one side longer than the other. She had distinct blue eyes, very different from the other Heartless.

She wore a black shirt, with a thin sleeveless overcoat that went down to her thighs. She wore black shorts, and had a belt of thick material around her waist, securely fastening the weapon that appeared to be a gunblade. Amaterasu had given her something else, a very long crimson colored scarf, which the Heartless seemed to be fond of at this point.

"Anyway…" Riku really didn't know what else to say after the whole 'name the Heartless event'. "We're leaving to Sunset Horizon in a couple of days, with Lightning." Riku noticed that the Heartless was enthralled with the scarf, not really paying attention to the surrounding she was placed in. Lightning patted Amaterasu's head mimicking Gabriel and Yomigami's movement of gratitude. Riku didn't really understand why the Heartless did what it did, but if anything it wanted to act human, nevertheless it needed a heart in order to do that.

"Thank you very much, Amaterasu Diaz." The heartless said very formally, as if she had done so all her life. She bowed in gratitude to Riku's presence, and he blushed slightly, he didn't want to admit it but she was very pleasing to look at. Amaterasu laughed noticing the blush on his face, and teased him about it for a while. "First of all," Lightning said. "The three of us should do research on this Sunset Horizon planet, get ourselves use to the area, so that we do our bet to avoid traps."

Amaterasu grabbed Riku's hand as she decided to lead Lightning to the book area from before. This time they would have a couple of days to research the world, and no one would disturb them in that room since it was locked most of the time. Those couple of days would prove to be a valuable and insightful chronological timeframe of dates and events. Riku had never seen Amaterasu this happy before, the only time he could remember was when they were back on the island.

"Amaterasu…" Riku said looking back at the girl with crimson and amber eyes. "You really think we can overcome the darkness?"

"Anything is possible…" Amaterasu said in a soft whisper so that Lightning couldn't hear the conversation. "Just don't say it in front of Lightning…" she looked up at the female who held her hand and smiled at her. "Lightning, when this is all done, I want to make a promise to you."

"A promise, Amaterasu?" Lightning asked rather caught off guard. Amaterasu nodded and toyed around with the scarf that hung around her neck gingerly. "What sort of promise do you plan to make?" the girl thought about it for a moment and said it was something that she would most likely be happy with.

"You see… I don't want to give a Heartless darkness, because that's their nature to want that. Instead I want to give you, a heart." Amaterasu said noticing the expressionless look placed on the female Heartless' face. "What are you feeling right now?" she asked looking at Lightning with some hopeful eyes.

"I… I can't say…" Lightning said truthfully looking back down for a moment. Riku couldn't believe the promise Amaterasu was trying to make to the Heartless. If anything right now they need to focus on other things. "Right now Sunset Horizon is of greater importance than a heart." She said sending Amaterasu's moral down by a fraction, she recovered and nodded.

**A/N: You know what to do _one_ review please!**


	28. Nokia and Sora

**A/N: A big thanks to my readers and reviewers!**

**Thanks you very much **sorasheart281 **it's all right about the alret things because they haven't been working since last week. I'll make them kiss one day... **

**Thank you very much **N.Neo **ha, I turned Lightning into a Heartless because well she makes a pretty good Heartless in my eyes, so I don't know... I'm glad you like the idea though.**

**Thank you very much **Matt-san** I've been practicing on the piano since then and stuff... Hey is it um And I go on as you get colder? I do miss the PM system since we talked through that. (I do miss you a lot!) **

**_Hey you guys I need some ideas, I think I'm having a brain fart..._**

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Nokia and Sora **

Gabriel was sulking around the area of the castle trying to find anyone he could annoy, he had kept this up for about four days now. Sadly to his dismay Gekigami and Yomigami had left somewhere, leaving the Chaser behind to try and find something to keep him occupied. He had been unsuccessful in locating Riku, Amaterasu, or even the new Heartless that was wandering around with them. At one point or another in one of the other rooms upstairs, he heard noises, like laughter and chairs being pushed about.

"In here?" Gabriel whispered to himself locating the locked door from across the training room. He knew from his previous stay in the castle that this room was off limits to anyone, even the big oaf Pete. He placed the side of his head on the door, letting the sounds travel, even if they were muffled by the door. Gabriel grinned at the instance of one voices sudden outburst. "It's Amaterasu…"

Amaterasu placed her head on the musty scented table and sighed heavily. Being in the library for about four days straight was taking a toll on her hunger, and possibly the structure of how her brain processed information. She closed the book that was in front of her, and leaned back against her chair. At that point, hunger finally sank into her system and her stomach growled, trying to get its owner to listen to the neglect it had been given.

Riku looked up from the last sentence of a paragraph, and noticed Amaterasu trying to cover her stomach with her arms. He shook his head and placed the book down, and closed it. Riku's amber eyes didn't plan on leaving Amaterasu's gaze anytime soon, and he finally spoke out. "I told you, you should've eaten when Lightning went…"

Lightning looked up at the mention of her name. She placed her notes down on the table and looked at the notes from the other two teens, it didn't seem comparable to the amount of work she managed to accomplish in those four days. She let out a small sigh and stood up stretching for a moment.

"Someone's outside…" Lightning said, her blue eyes moving to the wooden door. The two teens looked at the wooden door, and Lightning took no time in pulling out her weapon. At her will, and the pull of a trigger, it turned from a sword into a gun of some sort.

The unlucky soul managed to pick the lock and before he had time to block anything a shot rang out. The purple eyes scanned the area quickly, and he pulled out a weapon of his own, and their weapons were locked within a matter of seconds. Gabriel finally took the time to look at the attacker and to his relief it was only the Heartless. He put his blade down and frowned at the whole scene, that's when he noticed the other two people.

"This place is off limits you know." Gabriel said pausing for a moment when Amaterasu's stomach growled again. "What's the Heartless doing here?" he asked directing the question to his youngest ex-comrade. Amaterasu placed her head on the table for a moment and mumbled something.

"Her name is Lightning…" Amaterasu said hearing her stomach growl again. She was embarrassed at the fact it kept growling like that. "Besides why are _you_ in here if this place is off limits?" she titled her head to the side to get a better look at Gabriel. He shrugged saying that he heard some voices coming from this room.

Riku and Lightning gathered up the notes they were able to fabricate from the text on Sunset Horizon. It was a desolate place with vast canyons and very few towns that boarded the area. At one point in folklore a crossroad had been created within the area, created entirely of Keyblades that held no key-chains, only those who were involved knew for sure if it was true or not.

Riku walked out of the area, leaving Lightning and Amaterasu with Gabriel. Gabriel gave Riku a small smile, but as always he didn't return the smile. Aside from that Amaterasu walked out after him, but only to go and get some food for her complaining stomach, she hadn't eaten that much since they were in the library.

Gabriel and the Lightning exchanged glances for a moment, and Lightning finally placed her weapon down still eyeing the man before her with a cautious eye. She finally remembered him as the man who had presented her to Amaterasu. She let out a small breath and walked after the other two teens. Gabriel on the other found one of the paper that they had left behind.

"The sealed truth…" Gabriel said reciting that small phrase written in small handwriting. He knew right away that it came from what he called 'Amaterasusan writing'. She had a distinct style, since it was so small he knew who it belonged to. The rest were just ideas on what that could mean. "My guess goes on the sphere…" he said remembering one idea, and crushed the paper into a little ball and discarded it.

Lightning walked back to the area, and it seemed as though she was waiting for Gabriel. He had asked her why she waited and all she managed to say was that it was a favor from Amaterasu. He laughed shaking shi head for a moment, and it was a long and quiet walk back to the kitchen. He saw Amaterasu closing the door from the plain looking refrigerator and preparing what appeared to be a turkey sandwich.

"You guys want some?" she asked not peering at the presence of Lightning or Gabriel, she had heard their footsteps a while back. "I want to finish up these last slices of turkey…" she said watching Riku make himself a sandwich. "Lightning, you want mustard on yours?" she asked with delicacy as she placed the lettuce and the meat onto a white slice of bread.

Even if Lightning could remember what mustard tasted like, she shook her head, and refused the yellow tangy condiment as politely as she could. Amaterasu respected her decision even though she felt a bit hurt, since Amaterasu liked mustard a lot, but she couldn't force anyone to eat it. Lightning noticed Amaterasu's slightly dejected look and rubbed the back of her head. Her hand lightly brushed against the scarf Amaterasu had given her as a present and she felt a bit apologetic about what she said.

"I'll taste it with mustard then…" Lightning said pulling up a chair for herself.

**In the gummi ship **

Amaterasu slept peacefully on Lightning's lap, and the Heartless stared out the window of the flying vessel watching stars zoom past her very eyes. Riku was in another row sleeping off the trip, while Gabriel and Yomigami were piloting the ship. The other brother, by the name of Gekigami sat next to Amaterasu, he would doze off once in a while. From what Lightning remembered the trip would last at least a couple of days, even with a Warp Drive, the place was remote. She looked at the violin case that was by her feet, it held her weapon, Amaterasu had suggested that she place it in something that wouldn't attract attention.

Not much was said about the place they were all going to, but for some reason Maleficent treated that place as if it was the most important thing there was. The Heartless didn't question the dark witch, since she was after all the one who made her. Though at times she found in necessary to ask Amaterasu why, to at least satisfy her curiosity. Amaterasu nuzzled against her lap and murmured something that caught Lightning's attention from her reflection about the stars.

"Don't get hurt, Lightning…" she whispered, and the Heartless smiled at the fact she cared for something like a Heartless. Lightning stroked her head gently feeling as though it was something she should do. It brought back something, a feeling, but it was hard to describe at that point sense the lack of having a heart prevented her of expressing it, all she could do was mimic a sincere face. She had seen Amaterasu place one at something the boy by the name Riku had said during their stay in the library.

"I won't…" Lightning said unconsciously, letting impulse take affect at the response of what any human would normally say. She closed her eyes, letting her body rest for a while, relaxing her muscles and letting her mind wander around the whole event that would soon take place.

**Sunset Horizon **

Yomigami and Gabriel announced that they had made it to their destination. It had taken roughly four days to arrive, and they were one day ahead in schedule. The first thing they had to do was find an area of some sort so that it could be their headquarters, and so that they could have a place to sleep. Amaterasu lazily got out of the chair, and waited for Lightning as she took her time getting out of the seat, carrying her case with care. Everyone else was already outside of the ship and were waiting on the girl and her Heartless to board off the ship.

Once they did get off they all noticed the area before them. It was desolate just as the book s from the library described it to be. Canyons and high mesa formations were plainly visible, and there was a sort of humid weather outside the gummi ship. Yomigami and Gabriel led the group to walk forward across the dessert like valley.

"So if you're lonely…" Riku ended up singing something to past the time, and as luck would have it Amaterasu knew the tune all too well. 'Take Me Out' was on their mind. Gabriel rolled his eyes and looked back at the two teens as they sang to pass the time. Lightning looked back at Amaterasu's sudden change in behavior, just trying to figure out what triggered the sudden transformation of her 'client'.

Gekigami raised his arm pointing into the distance noticing that something was coming into view, and their attention was diverted to the clouds looming over a patch of land. "It's the storm clouds this place is known for…" Lightning said referring to something she had read in one of the off limit books. "We're probably close to a place called Nokia, it is a place with the most precipitation in all of Sunset Horizon."

"Where'd you find that kind of information?" Yomigami asked looking back at the female Heartless. She said that the information was classified, but Gabriel of course just told them the truth. "You could've gotten caught." He said sternly to Amaterasu and she nodded remorsefully, and said a simple 'sorry'.

**Nokia **

Riku took a moment and looked at the conurbation before his very eyes. The look of the whole city made him wonder if they were still within sunset Horizon. There were apartment complexes near various industrial establishments. The use of flying transportation was used, and everything looked so spherical. People would travel either by foot, or these little flying bi-planes of the sort. Amaterasu pulled him out of the way as a flying vehicle almost knocked him into next week. She sighed in relief and pulled him along with the others as they crossed the sidewalk.

The sidewalk seemed to be covered in this very glossy chromium finish. It just really took a while for the whole thing to sink in. The inhabitants of this place relied on the technology of Moogles and it seemed to show since buildings were marked with the ancient text of the Moogles. In Lightning's memory from the books she examined, she could navigate through the city with the little knowledge she knew. Amaterasu knew a couple of Moogle phrases, as did Yomigami and Gabriel, it was required for Chasers to know the text of ancient civilizations, but that seemed to go down the drain since their memory wasn't what it use to be, well Gabriel for the most part.

Gekigami and Lightning spoke for a while on the structure on the whole city itself. They both found it strange that a city like this would be able to flourish within a place like Sunset Horizon. Lightning thought it was because of the capital Elusion-Ilusion since it was one of the most powerful establishments due its vast amount of wealth, at least that's what one encyclopedia was able to give her.

**R i k u **

This place we were in is called 'Nokia', and people here don't seemed to be worried about the chaos going on in the other worlds, it's like they're isolated from the outside world, so to speak. People here dress a bit more futuristic than in other places, and everywhere you turn you see at least one authority figure. There are some that go under cover, which means they don't wear that metallic looking faceguard and the metallic silver and onyx body armor. This place looks way too peaceful to have guards and stuff like that.

Anyway we walked into an inn of some sort and we were greeted by a rather older looking woman, she appeared to be in her fifties. She directed us to the upstairs rooms, the dormitory quarters for guys was on the right, and for the women was on the left. The good thing was that we got a room before the rain started to come down.

The rooms were 550 munny a night, and so because of that we needed to complete the 'mission' as fast as possible. I stared at the unfamiliar ceiling. I didn't know how many unfamiliar ceilings I've seen but I'm guessing it's around 50, with all the worlds we've been visiting and all. There was a gentle knock on the door to my room, and I turned my head to get a better look of where the noise was coming from.

"Riku…" that was Lightning's voice. I told her she could come in. "Amaterasu would like to talk with you. Are you decent?" she asked. I couldn't help but laugh, of course I was decent. I got out of my bed and opened the door, and I noticed Lightning was wearing a black and red sweater, with some loose jeans, she still had that scarf that Amaterasu had given her. "He's decent…" Lightning said turning her gaze to Amaterasu.

"I just want to talk…" she said sounding a bit shy about it all. Then again, that's how she was, her mood was always changing, but I'm blaming that on her sugar intake, if it was low she'd be mellow, if it was high she would be hyper/happy as I like to call it. "Lightning, you don't have to come inside…" she said noticing the Heartless take a step into the room.

"Are you sure?" Lightning asked raising an eyebrow. "I don't really comprehend why you'd want to be alone with…" Lightning chuckled slightly to herself, shaking her head. "I understand completely."

The look on Amaterasu's blushing face said it all. She waved her hands frantically, "No, it's not like that!" she said hearing Lightning give a rather genuine laugh. To be honest she only laughs with Amaterasu, and if she laughs in the presence of anyone else, either she's making fun of you or she just mimics it since it is something a human does. "Lightning…" she started to whine slightly.

"I won't tell anyone." Lightning said winking and placing a grin onto her facial expression. "Your secret's safe with me." She said pretending to zip her mouth. "Nothing's getting past these lips." Lightning did like messing with Amaterasu, she was easy to punk, I'll be honest and say it. As Lightning walked out I could hear her hum this one song from Amaterasu's mp3 player, 'Do You Want To'.

Amaterasu laughed and shook her head, saying goodbye to Lightning, the Heartless. She cleared her throat and I closed the door to my room. "Anyway…" she said laughing nervously. "How have you been?" she asked giving me a big smile.

**With Sora **

The Keyblade wielder fell down to the ground in exhaustion as Yen Sid placed another spell, luring Heartless out of the shadows. Sora was about ready to quit when something in his heart kicked in. An enormous mass of dark energy swirled around him, and his whole appearance changed. He triggered something called Anti-Form, taking on the appearance of a Heartless, so to speak.

The Heartless version of Sora licked its lips and grinned at the Heartless surrounding it, they had no idea as that what would soon happen to their existence at that very moment in time. He moved with such agility that he didn't even touch the ground as he took off. He circled around two Heartless and grabbed them roughly by the head. Yen Sid turned away slightly, the Heartless knew they were going to be destroyed, and they growled and whimpered as the pain increased on their heads, within moments their frame cracked, and they disappeared.

Sora moved frantically on all fours charging at another Heartless twice his size. He knocked it into the air, and brought his claws to the exposed flesh of the Heartless, ripping its vulnerable spot into ribbons, and tossed the Heartless with another group. His yellow eyes flashed again noticing more Heartless sprout and quickly the moved across the area at neck breaking speed. His attacks grew more violent, cracking the necks, or swiftly removing the Heartless' head from its shoulder, and with that the Heartless disappeared.

At one point or another no Heartless dared to move for they feared for their dark meaningless life. It was at that point Yen Sid dismissed the spell and waited for Sora to regain control of his original appearance. He moved about in an animal like manner trying to pick up the scent of the other Heartless in the air, but when it found none, Sora said left sitting on the ground in a sort of daze. For some reason he looked at his hands with a remorseful look on his face.

Yen Sid noticed that at one point he looked like his Nobody, Roxas, and he felt that Sora was soon reaching the end of his first part of training. Once Sora let his Nobody take control of his body there would be another part to his training.

"That is enough, Sora." Yen Sid said in the same commanding voice when he hand trained King Mickey. "Rest and we shall train again tomorrow." Yen Sid had no idea how glad Sora was to hear those words.

**A m a t e r a s u **

The place we're staying in is one of the most beautiful places that I've ever been. When the rain hits the buildings it reminds me of how Radiant Garden use to have thin crystals fall from the sky, back when it was a peaceful place. I sighed for a moment staring out at the rain in Riku' room. I always find myself in his company, I'm just so use to it, that at points I don't even realize I'm in his room, and I think it's the same way with him.

I noticed that Riku sat next to me propping his elbows on the windowsill, his amaber eyes staring into the distance. The sound of the rain reached my ears, and I could smell the rain fall hit the damp earth, it was s smell I could never get old of. '_I wonder if Lightning likes the rain. Maybe she did a longing time ago…_' I thought to myself thinking back to the Heartless presented to me. I wonder if she liked being a present for me, I don't think so, I mean I'd find that rather rude in my eyes, but then again she couldn't feel, only mimic.

"What are you thinking about?" Riku asked breaking my thought for a moment. I looked at him for a moment and shook my head sighing for a moment.

"I'm just remembering how much I missed Radiant Garden, back when it was a peaceful place, but other than that I'm thinking about Lightning, I want to give her a heart…" I let the last part become a soft whisper when I heard Riku sing something.

"And the love you never knew…" he stopped and cleared his throat for a moment. "It's from the Goo Goo Dolls… The only band you don't have in your mp3 player!" he said giving me a noogie. He kissed the side of my cheek and I laughed trying to get him back at the noogie.

I landed on his back and the two of us ended up falling to the floor. "Sorry!" I said getting off of him, making sure that he was hurt or anything. At that point it was a bad idea to have my wrist that close to his hand, because I landed on my back, as payback for his fall. "Ouch…" I said staring up at the ceiling. "So, we even?"

"Yeah…" he said smiling slightly. "Listen back at Curly Hill…" I placed my head on his stomach, it made a very good pillow.

"Hey your stomach is talking…" I said hearing the gurgling noises from his belly. "Anyway, how do you like Nokia so far?"

"We've only been here for a couple of hours!" Riku said messing up my hair.

"Still it's better than nothing…" I said sitting up and looking back at him. "You think we can finish the mission before a week?" he nodded, and for once I was glad about Riku being optimistic. Still I really do want to give Lightning a heart, she doe deserve it more than anything in the world, she's been very kind, if a Heartless can be kind anyway…

**A/N: You know what to do _one _review, por favor!**


	29. The Capital ElusionIlusion

**A/N: A bit thanks to my the readers and the reviewers, it means a lot to me!**

**On with the story!**

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Capital Elusion-Ilusion **

"To get to the capital of Sunset Horizon, you must travel one either an airship or by using one of the bi-plane like machines found in the city of Nokia. The capital is a place of wondrous magnitude. You would be surprised to judge it on its looks for they will leave you spellbound. As the saying goes, never judge a book by its cover, this applies to Elusion-Ilusion for its technological advances are by far envied throughout the whole universe…" – from the passage found in 'Orritonze' page 120, paragraph 2.

Lightning was able to remember the passage so clearly, since half of the page in that particular encyclopedia was ripped, or rather, it looked like if someone burned it. That was the only thing she could tell the others on what she knew of the capital's description, and that was better than nothing. Yomigami thanked her and looked back at the others. "We're going to have to pay a _visit_ to that place." Yomigami said. "We've already rested for a day so we need to get going, we're on a schedule."

With that everyone was dismissed from one room in the inn and they all walked out into the city. They had noticed that there were a couple of people by the door of where the meeting was being held, like if they were trying to spy on them, but they didn't think anything of it and continued with their departure. Nokia, was still in its glory, boasting off its power in technological advances, but it didn't come to par with the capital. Several guards walked down the street protecting the perimeter, but for some reason it seemed a bit weird to have that many guards in one city. '_I wouldn't be surprised if they went to war regularly…_' Amaterasu thought following everyone else as they went back to the outskirts of town.

Lightning carried her 'violin' case as if it were a piece of glass, but still the approach in her walking did not change, she was still as forceful and powerful as ever in that manner of hers. Amaterasu walked alongside her, and the contrast was plainly visible in manner of walking, the girl was a bit shyer, avoiding gaze on the street, but her down cast eyes did prove at times to be rather cold. "You think the sphere is in the capital?" Amaterasu asked the Heartless.

"More than likely…" Lightning said her blue eyes scanning the outskirts of the city for a moment. "It's strange, no one in this world has asked for travel permits." She said looking back at the entrance to the city. The storm clouds had disappeared as they left, and everything still looked the same. Something caught her attention as she turned around, a black silhouette was noticeable in the distance. Lightning popped the hatch of her case and propped her weapon to lean against one of her shoulders. "Company…"

Amaterasu noticed the silhouette and summoned her weapon. Riku did the same watching the silhouette continue on its path in the same direction. Yomigami and Gabriel stepped forward bringing out their own weapons. Yomigami this time carried a pair of chakram that reminded Riku of the ones Axel had used back then. Gabriel gripped his sword tightly with both hands preparing himself for an oncoming battle. Gekigami brought out a lance out of thin air watching the figure move closer and closer.

"You guys ain't from here, are ya?" the figure said drawing out what appeared to be a futuristic shotgun, it was metallic of course meaning that by the design it was somehow manufactured within Nokia. From that it was easy enough to say that he was a Nokian, as that was what they were called. "Can tell by the way you move… Don't tell me that ship back there is yours?"

"And what if it is?" Gabriel asked planting his weapon into the ground. The figure laughed, and judging by the pitch in his voice he was male. "What's so funny?" Gabriel asked looking at the man straighten in the eyes. "You're kind of wasting our time."

"Just wanted to look at the ship. We don't get much outsiders since with the wars and Nokian's leaving from here." The man said sighing for a moment. "Nokian's don't really like outsiders especially those from the capital… it wasn't like this before." his gun was aimed at Gabriel for a moment, and when Amaterasu moved her Keyblade he aimed it at her. Lightning aimed her own weapon at the Nokian.

"What makes you think we're from Elusion-Ilusion?" Riku asked getting defensive and moving a bit towards Amaterasu's side, trying to protect her. The man pointed to the Keyblade he was holding. "This?" Riku asked looking back at the man with a confused look in his eye.

"Recently a king came in from the capital with a weapon like yours. It had a keychain, and from then on out these things called Heartless have been coming down to our city. You can tell since some many guards have been dispatched here. People are blaming the capital for it all…" the man said lowering his weapon, noticing the look in Lightning's eyes. "But then again, you guys don't look like you're from that place either…"

"Just let us go, we're not coming back here…" Yomigami said twirling one chakram in his hand. "Unless if you want to fight us then…" the man let out a hearty laugh and let them pass.

"Looks like the King has already been here…" Gabriel said as they all walked back to the gummi ship. "Hmm, he probably went back to the capital though…" he said thinking a bit more about it. "I guess he's looking for that sphere too." Amaterasu thought about that for a moment and remembered that Yomigami had promised to give that sphere to the King so that he could protect it, to make sure no one would ever use it.

'_It's hard keeping promises…_' she thought thinking back to giving Lightning a heart. If there was one promise she would never break, it was to give someone a heart. Lightning, from her personality, seemed to be kind around people, even though she kept to herself most of the time. '_I'll make sure not to fail on that…_' Amaterasu thought as they reached the gummi ship.

"Heartless…" Gabriel said rudely, Amaterasu felt her hand twitch slightly, trying to fight off the urge to hit him. Lightning looked at the man with the purple eyes and was about to tell him something when he cut her off. "Do you know the coordinates for the capital?"

"Lightning…" she said gripping on to the handle of the case. Gabriel looked at her for a moment, still trying to process what the Heartless had just said.

"What did you say?" Gabriel asked walking to the back of the group. Amaterasu instinctively moved to the side standing in front of Lightning. "Move, Amaterasu…" Gabriel said nudging her slightly, but she shook her head. "Move." He said again this time trying to get her to move. He froze feeling Lightning's weapon dangerously close to his neck.

"You do _not_ touch her like that…" Lightning said in a very demanding voice. "Respect the name she has given me even if I am a Heartless." She said staring at Gabriel coldly, purple and blue eyes did not look away from one another. Gabriel withdrew and smiled at the Heartless.

"Fine, Lightning… What _are_ the coordinates?" he asked again, in a rather gentle tone. The coordinates never were recorded for the capital, it was only known that you would have to travel about 350 kilometers north of Nokia. "That helps _a lot_," he said sarcastically. He apologized to Amaterasu, saying that he wasn't use to a Heartless reacting like that.

"You'd better start treating her like she's a human…" Amaterasu said trying to threaten him, but he was able to laugh at her like she was no threat. "She'll kick you ass." Gabriel thought about it for a moment and rubbed the back of his head, there was no doubt that she moved very fast in combat.

Riku and the others were inside the gummi ship checking on the supplies and the fuel for the gummi engines. Everything seemed to be in perfect working around, and Gekigami's voice boomed out of the speakers on the side of the ship. Amaterasu and the other two climbed into the ship.

The Nokian man from before grinned watching the ship fly north of the city. He pulled out a little device that indicated a slow moving target. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it watching the ship disappear over the edge of the city. "The King'll be happy to hear 'bout them…"

**King Mickey **

Donald Duck and Goofy waited outside by the doors of a meeting room within the walls of a luxurious Middle Age castle. The whole city seemed to be set to an advanced era, yet the ruins around it were from the Middle Ages, the castle seemed to be untouched by time, and yet for the era the guards from this world wore medieval-style armor but carried assault rifles, rather than using magic or swords. Donald and Goofy were still dressed in their outfits not really fitting into this world. King Mickey on the other had was dressed in a black version of his attire, fitting in with the world.

King Mickey sat before the only heir of Elusion-Ilusion, discussing the matters on the importance of the sphere that was before them in the middle of the table. The heir's name was 'Versus'. His name can stand for the past tense of this word, "vertere" meaning "to change direction". Versus sat in his gothic styled chair, it was very distinct from the other chairs since it was crafted from dark marble, and it had blackened silk cushions.

The heir of Elusion-Ilusion wore something that more or less mimicked the style King Mickey had once seen on Cloud Strife from the past months. He also had feathery dark blue hair with bangs that fell forward, his eyes were of a dark color, but at one point King Mickey had seen his eyes turn red when he held his sword.

The heir crossed his leg slightly as he sat on his chair, his elbow rested on the arm rest while his head was casually resting against his palm. "This sphere then… It has great and terrible power within it?" his voice gave the impression he was around his twenties, but none the less he knew what he was doing.

King Mickey nodded after explaining to Versus about the Dark Keyblade Master. "Yep." The King said. "How'd ya come across a thing like this?" King Mickey couldn't help but ask him that. Versus smiled for a moment and leaned into his chair.

"I won it in a battle." Versus said not really wanting to say more, but since both were of royal lineage it seemed better to explain. "There was a battle with one of the neighboring countries, as they decided to attack Nokia, which is under my rule as well. It took a while to put that country in its place, and I gained a new addition of land, and this." He said. Telekinetically he removed the glass cover from the sphere and let the sphere hover above the table. "Rumor has it that a Dark Keyblade Master started a war in the outskirts of the place Nokia, and it grew from there… Which means all of Sunset Horizon was brought into it… as a result for the ruins that must have displeased your visit here." There was a knock on one of the wooden doors and Versus opened it with his mind. "Yes?"

"There is a message for you, King Mickey…" one of the guards said bringing a little note to the royal mouse. Versus decided to just teleport it to the king, and the guard left at once when Versus took over his role. "What does it say, Mickey?" Versus asked with curiosity.

King Mickey's black eyes scanned the contents of the letter reading it very carefully, making sure not to over look a word or sentence. He mumbled something to himself, and Versus waited with a sort of immaculate patience that could even make a holy figure jealous. As he finished he looked up at Versus who was waiting to hear King Mickey speak of what was addressed in the letter.

"From what one of my subordinates has been able to gather, since I stationed him in Nokia, is that there is a group of people are coming into the capital. One had purple eyes, which could only mean that it is a Chaser by the name of Gabriel, since there is no doubt in my mind that Maleficent sent him there, and he's not alone. I can only suspect that they are just as strong as him." King Mickey said noticing Versus manipulate the sphere to twirl around the table.

"So then from what you're saying is that we have unwanted guests…" Versus said looking at the King with his dark colored eyes. "No doubt to take this little sphere." He said placing the sphere down with his telekinesis. "Do you want me to station some guards outside the capital?" Versus asked King Mickey. "Or do you want to see them out personally?"

"I'll leave the decision up to you," King Mickey said. "This is after all _your_ capital, Versus, and I have no doubt that you are a capable ruler." He said nodding reassuring to the dark blue haired man.

"I'm the _only_ ruler this place has." Versus said standing up from his dark colored chair. He placed the glass case over the sphere using the elements of his mind once more and looked back at the King. "You want to greet them with me?" he asked hoping that the King would say yes. "To be honest, I don't really feel like fighting them unless if they plan to hurt my country."

**With Sora **

Sora sighed again watching the reflection in the mirror before. Roxas stood there in the reflection, in plain sight, walking around trying to figure out what was going on. Both blue eyed teens had no clue as to what was happening. All Sora knew was that he was suppose to get Roxas out of the mirror, without breaking it. He tilted his head and thought of a lot of possible reasons. At one point he placed his hand on the mirror, but that didn't do anything.

"What about the Keyblade?" Roxas asked as he finally stopped moving. Sora hadn't thought of that. "Try pointing your Keyblade out, and calling me out… or something like that." Roxas said watching Sora pull out his Keyblade. "Just don't break the mirror."

"I know…" Sora said the tone in his voice was wavering as he didn't really know if it was going to work or not. He placed both hands on the Ultima Keyblade and felt this light radiate from within him. "Come out, Roxas…" he said. The Keyblade emitted a light but nothing happened. "nothing…" Sora said disappointed.

"Hmm…" Roxas sighed and stood in his mirror prison. "Maybe you have to do it to yourself…" Sora agreed, he had never thought of that, but it did seem like a possible idea when Roxas said it. Sora raised the Keyblade and stabbed it into his heart. "What are you doing?!" Roxas yelled out. "Are you trying to…?" but at that point he found himself out of the mirror, and Sora had disappeared. "Sora?" Roxas asked.

_"In here!"_ It sounded like there was a voice in his head.

"You're in my head?" Roxas asked looking around the room he was in.

_"No, in the mirror!"_ Sora said knocking on the mirror loudly. "_What am I suppose to do now?"_

Yen Sid watched from the opposite side fighting off the urge to laugh at Sora's choice of release. He dismissed the mirror from the area, and Sora reappeared back into the reality he was meant to be in. Roxas began to fade smiling slightly.

"See you later, Sora…" Roxas said giving him a thumbs up. "Tell Naminé I said hi, okay?"

**A m a t e r a s u **

I looked at the landscape that was under us, all you could see was desserts and mesas on the ground. Sunset Horizon really was a desolate place, but when you'd get to the cities, that was a different thing entirely. I looked back at Lightning and she gave me a small smile. With each day it seems she's starting to act more and more human, today she reacted to Gabriel not saying her name, she really does like that name.

Anyway Riku and I were talking about what we were going to do when we got to the capital, but we still don't have a plan to it at all. We don't even know where the sphere is, so that's going to be a little detour. If that means we're going to have to snoop around the capital then we'll have some issues, from what Lightning could gather from it's history it's a very powerful city, with an excellent militia at hand. Though the information is a bit outdated, since AgitoVI is no longer King, that was probably about two decades ago. Probably his son Amos ruled, or is still ruling whichever one of the two.

We're taking a small break since Gabriel is starting to get hungry, and it's getting on Yomigami's nerves. It was always like that when we were still within the Chaser 'circle' as I use to like calling it. At times I do wish we were still considered Chasers, but I mean if I was still in the group I never would've met all the new friends I've made. In a way I thank Xehanort because if I didn't start to care for him, I might of lost sight of my own heart.

"Hey is that snow?" I asked out loud watching white flakes land gently on the one wing of the gummi ship. Lightning leaned over and looked out at the wing. She nodded and said that Elusion-Ilusion was known for having snowstorms, which came with very cold temperatures, it was a place within Sunset Horizon known for its beauty and precipitation, and slightly gothic architecture, but not to mention its power in technology and in warfare.

"Snow…?" Riku asked looking out of the same window. "Wow…. I've never really seen snow before." He looked back at us and smiled slightly. For someone who's lived on the islands almost all his life, he did really seem excited about the flurry, well sort of anyway.

"We didn't pack for snow!" Gekigami said noticing the snow on the wings. "We're going to get sick on the job…" he said sighing and looking back at us. "We should've packed heavier clothing…"

"With the magic within the capital I doubt we'll have to worry about the cold…" Lightning said watching a giant clock tower come into view, it had gothic numbers to tell the time. "It'll help us blend in, if we choose to that is…" at that point the gummi ship rocked violent to the side and I could see fire starting to blaze at the wing.

**A/N: You know what to do, _one_ review, please!**


	30. Riku and the Heir

**A/N: Wow I'd never imagine that I'd get up to 30 chapters...**

**Thank you very much **N.Neo **for the review!**

Matt-san **thanks for the review, I kinda thought about the armored guys for a while... Anyway this chapter centers on, well what the chapter says, sort of anyway.**

**A BIG thank you to the readers too!**

**On with the story!**

**Chapter Thirty: Riku and the Heir **

Versus watched as one of his soldiers aimed his fire weapon at the gummi ship, pleased at the result that one of the wings started to catch on fire. King Mickey on the other hand watched from a distance to see if anyone on that ship would plan to escape, but as the craft started to descend at a quick rate it didn't seem likely that any of its passengers would jump ship. The gummi narrowly avoided colliding with the clock tower that was a couple of feet away from its crash landing course. Snow was still falling as this all happened and it aided in taming the fire from the ship.

The residence from the capital took time out of their busy lives to watch the aircraft fall as the flames started to grow, soon catching to the engines. Within a matter of moments the aircraft crashed and destroyed a neighboring wall that separated a bank of some sort and took half of a rather small Moogle establishment. The impact sent dust into the air and the ground shook at the force. Versus ordered his soldiers to circle around the small aircraft, and to apprehend any survivors from the wreckage.

The wing was burned off completely and the engines looked anything but usable. The ship seemed as though it would never fly again, and it was true. Parts of the ship broke off, back into its natural state, it turned back into a gummi block, and even some of the gummi blocks looked a bit charcoaled. The soldiers were well equipped to handle something like this, since within their metal faceguards they had enhanced visionary operating systems. From the outside there was a blue light that emitted from the middle faction of the facial armor.

Versus walked among the wreckage shaking his head as he thought about the people who would have to clean this up. He didn't except for the gummi ship to land on an actual building, but sadly it did. One of soldiers walked back telling Versus of the detailed report.

"Out of the six bodies picked up in the scans, only five show vital life signs." The female soldier said pulling out a thin gadget. She pressed a button on the side and a small projection of what she saw in her enhanced visors appeared out of a small opening in the gadget. "From the looks of it, the deceased one appears to be male."

"Shit…" Versus said looking back at King Mickey, he didn't want the royal mouse to find out about the death of one of the intruders. "Cremate him once we get the others rounded up." And with that the female soldier returned to her post and informed the others within her rank.

Versus caught sight of a figure leaning against the doorway of the unrecognizable ship. He had silver hair and amber eyes that held some confusion at the event of it all. The heir watched him get dragged away by one of the soldiers, and a female around the silver haired figures age soon followed after. The soldiers had a harder time subduing two figures, one was male and the other was female. The one with the purple eyes followed along with resistance at all.

**Riku and the others **

Amaterasu turned around slightly looking back at Lightning as she seemed to be resisting the captor. Yomigami stopped after a while when one of the solider stunned him. She looked at Gabriel who seemed to be the most calm of all, and Riku on the other hand had no idea what was going on. '_Where's Gekigami…? Maybe he escaped…_' but something told her that, that was not the case. '_I hope Brother's okay…_' she thought feeling the soldier pull on the chains.

Everyone in the group did merge into this world, or rather they accepted the magical spell from within the capital. Amaterasu wore a black laced skirt that went down to the knees, with crimson designs on it, wearing a matching black Victorian blouse with scarlet laces, and with that wore some black knee high socks and black boots. Lighting accepted the spell, but on the condition that the spell not interfere with the crimson scarf around her neck. She and Amaterasu wore similar attire, but Lighting had the addition of having her scarf with her.

Riku wore a black collared shirt with a crimson tie and black pants with black shoes that had a zipper running down the middle, with a black trench coat. On his wrists he had several wristbands with ancient text etched into the metal frame, with black nail polish adorning his fingernails, and with it came a lip piercing on the side of his lip. Yomigami and Gabriel matched in attire since both had the effect of smeared eyeliner around their eyes, and were dressed heavily in black. Gabriel didn't wear a trench coat but he had fishnet gloves while Yomigami had the black trench coat on him with a piercing on the side of his nose.

As they walked alongside the soldiers that captured them they noticed ruins scattered all over the area. There weren't any houses or even sidewalks in this part of the capital. The snow covered much of the ground as it still continued its little display. The cold to all of them was the least of their worries, at least to Lightning for now. The sound of feet sprinting on the snow caught Amaterasu's attention as she turned around slightly.

Amaterasu felt something pull her away and noticed that Lightning had managed to escape from the soldier. In the frenzy Amaterasu grabbed Riku's arm quickly before she lost contact with him. Lightning looked back running with Amaterasu and Riku at her side. The soldiers started to fire their automatic weapons, their orders were to harm but not kill, but if push came to shove they would have to eventually kill, only if their life was hanging in the balance. Lightning placed Amaterasu and Riku in a distant place from the shooting close by some of the ruins that were probably about ten yards away.

Lightning moved about, dodging the bullets as the came into contact with the ground after she moved from sight. One of the soldiers turned around to try and focus his aim onto Lightning as she stood in their line of fire, but as he pulled the trigger the bullets went right through the projection. Lighting brought down her blade onto the back of the soldier hearing a cracking sound as the shoulder became dislocated due to the attack. The other soldiers left their post and aided their fallen comrade. Lighting didn't move and waited for the last second, hearing the gun shots ring out, and she moved quickly against the trajectory of the oncoming objects.

Pulling the trigger on her weapon it became a magnificent gun, and she pulled her gun's trigger two soldiers fell to the floor and she watched the blood run down their armor for a moment, at that point the crimson substance started to spread staining the immaculate snow. She jumped back and noticed one soldier get too close to her, she kicked the soldier in the jaw and with a swift trigger pull the armor hit the ground. The snow prevented her from moving anymore sense she could feel herself lose her balance at times since the element of ice was beginning to prove difficult to her sense of coordination.

"Fall back…" A voice said in back of Gabriel. The soldiers ceased their attacks and retreated leaving Lightning in some confusion as to what just happened. "Four soldiers killed in less than ten minutes, not bad for someone who is wearing a skirt…" the man said chuckling at Lightning. He let his sword rest against his shoulder. "Though you see… as ruler of this place, I can't let you leave alive now…" the man said. "My name is Versus, I hope you remember that in your afterlife…" with that he took hold of his weapon and his eyes turned to a deep crimson color.

Lightning watched Versus for a moment as he outstretched his hand, a blue aura was around it for a moment and within another second it moved through the air, straight at the female fighter. '_Reflect!_' Amaterasu thought quickly noticing the attack move quickly on her companion. Lightning took the chance after the defensive spell and sprinted forward, Versus pushed her back as he blocked her attack with his sword, and Lighting jumped back turning her gun back into a sword to be on par with him. At the same time the snow stopped falling.

"What's your business here?" Versus asked, he knew the answer already but still it didn't hurt to ask. Lightning told him that it was something she was no entitled to discuss. "Wrong answer…" and with that a lance appeared out of thin air. The lance was projected at the nearby wall where Amaterasu was stationed at. It was enough to set off Lighting and her Heartless nature as she disappeared from Versus' sight, and reappeared striking a blow to his arm.

Versus recovered quickly and moved his blade to the side of him blocking another oncoming attack from the Heartless. In a flash the lance reappeared back at his side and it struck Lightning down, it was an unexpected attack on her part. Amaterasu found herself running forward, but stopped as the lance reappeared, lightly touching her neck. Riku pulled her back fearing for her safety. Yomigami rushed forward finally breaking free from his chains, ready to aid Lightning on her attack. Chakrams were thrown at the opponent, and while Versus was to busy blocking circular objects, Lighting pulled the trigger on her gun now.

Versus' hair color turned white and in a flash, teleported in back of Amaterasu and took her for a hostage, teleporting her back with him to the battlefield. Riku moved forward, but the lance appeared in front of him and he growled.

"Don't move, Riku!" Gabriel said blocking an attack from another lance. "He'll kill her!" The man with the purple eyes moved to the side narrowly missing an attack from the other lance by a millimeter.

Lightning stopped her attack noticing that her 'client' was in danger now. If she moved now it wouldn't be that helpful to Amaterasu. Versus smiled slightly watching Lightning stop so suddenly. He looked back at Amaterasu who was trying to get away from the only heir of the capital. "Struggling makes it worse…" he whispered into her ear. "Do you want me to kill you here?"

"Don't touch her!" Riku growled furiously trying to get to her, but the lance was locked onto his movements. His amber eyes scanned for any opening possible but he found none at the moment in time. Yomigami didn't move noticing another lance appear out of thin air. Versus was controlling the three lances with the power of his mind, but his power would soon run out.

"Huh…" Versus said laughing at the reaction from the boy. To taunt the teen he kissed Amaterasu lightly on the cheek. "Do something about it!" Versus yelled back at Riku. The Heartless within Riku was about ready to make itself known but Riku fought with himself as hard as he could not to let it escalate to that, but Versus was making his self control dwindle with each moment that the heir held Amaterasu in his grasp.

Riku felt the Heartless within him lose control and with that a black veil of dark energy covered his body, the Heartless was finally free now as Riku lost control. _'Let anger take a hold…'_ the Heartless told him. With that Riku avoided the lance as he stepped forward feeling the power in his body increase. His body was drenched in black with yellow Heartless eyes, he looked like the humanoid Heartless from Halloween Town. His Keyblade was ready in hand and with a burst of speed he moved closer to Versus. Everyone took their cue to take this moment to stand down. This was between Riku and the heir of the capital.

"Start attacking and you might hurt the girl…" Versus said withdrawing the other lances to his side. Riku couldn't hear anything at this point he was just fixated on Versus and him alone. Amaterasu looked at Riku, her eyes widening a bit at the sight. '_That's his type of Anti-Form…_' she thought thinking back to Sora had once told her about the Drive Forms. Versus released his grip on her and the girl took her moment to get out of the way, and Lightning motioned with her hand to come by her side.

"Riku… is part Heartless?" Lightning asked with some curiosity watching Riku and Versus go head to head now. Amaterasu shook her head feeling safe, just being near Lightning for right now. "He is very strong as one…" she said watching Riku jump into the air avoiding one of the lances, with his Keyblade pushed back an on coming one. Versus jumped back blocking the oncoming attack, sparks flew out as Riku continued his assault. He withdrew his Keyblade and found it necessary to attack with his Heartless like nature, at this stage he was losing all human control and was becoming more feral like Heartless did in times of intense battles.

Versus jumped back but noticed that Riku in less than a second grabbed his ankle and he fell back. There the heir noticed the wicked smile on Riku's mouth as his claws were getting ready to stab his heart. He rapidly blocked the on coming attack with his sword and Riku went for his head this time, Versus barely had time to evade it. Yomigami and Gabriel watched from a safe distance looking at Riku's nature, it seemed that he wouldn't stop his assault until the heir lost his heart. Amaterasu tried to move but Lightning placed some restraint on her.

"He's going to kill him!" Amaterasu said desperately. She didn't care if he did start the attack but she didn't want Riku to kill someone. Even as her name stated, being mother to all, she felt some connection to the heir on an emotional level, judging by his attacks he never did plan on killing any one of them. Riku was pushed off by the heir as he staggered back panting heavily. Riku was getting ready for the kill as he disappeared and then sent out his attack Dark Aura from the air. '_Reflectga!_' she said closing her eyes quickly. '_Don't kill him!_' her mind pleaded.

The heir looked up at the defensive wall built around him and looked back at the girl, and noticed Amaterasu sigh in relief. Lightning was distracted by that small moment in time by the girl's actions and Amaterasu ran forward.

"Don't!" Lightning called out feeling something like fear as she shouted, "No!"

Amaterasu didn't hear the voice called out by the Heartless. Yomigami was pulled back by Gabriel and he shook his head to the older brother.

"She might be repeating history all over again…" Gabriel said referring back to something the voodoo priest said. "If she is…" Yomigami cursed at Gabriel not letting him finish his sentence, but soon those two were knocked out by an unseen force.

"Stop it, Riku!" Amaterasu said grabbing hold of the Heartless. "Stop it!" she yelled again feeling tears run down her cheeks. The Heartless tried desperately to pry the human off of its body, but she didn't plan on letting go anytime soon. The Heartless hissed and growled menacingly. "I'm okay… Stop. Come back to me, please…" she begged holding the Heartless tighter.

Versus watched as the girl held on tight to the Heartless, and the Heartless at one point almost listened. '_King Mickey better come in soon…_' Versus thought watching as the teen pleaded with the humanoid Heartless, '_I don't think she can control him now…_' Lightning had to do something she thought she would never have to do in her whole lifespan. She searched in back of a sash and pulled out a couple of tranquilizar darts and loaded them into her gun. '_I'm very sorry Riku…_' she thought as she aimed the weapon to hit the side of his neck, and for a moment Lightning did feel sorry as Riku landed on his knees.

"You're…" Riku couldn't stay awake as the drug was taking effect rapidly, "…crying…" he felt Amaterasu pull something out of his neck, and with that he closed his eyes and slept. Versus took that moment and pulled out something from his back pocket, they looked like little darts and as the girl was preoccupied with the boy he controlled the path of the dart to the girl, then to the boy, Lightning was the last one to receive the dart on her neck.

**Holding Cells **

Riku's vision was blurry as he looked up at the concrete ceiling, the floor underneath him was as cold as ice. He sat up and rubbed the side of his neck feeling as though someone knocked him out with a shovel or something to that affect. Gabriel called out his name and Riku sat up, but the sudden movement made him feel woozy.

"Glad to see you're awake now." Gabriel said sitting in one corner of the hold cell. "They got us separated… the girls are next to us." Gabriel said pointing to the cell at the right.

"What happened?" Riku asked only remembering Amaterasu's tears. Yomigami stirred up for a moment and felt his energy slip away with each breath he took. At that point both of the older guys noticed that Riku had his turquoise eyes again.

"You went berserk…" Yomigami informed the boy. "The Heartless in you took over… You would've killed the guy if Amaterasu and Lightning hadn't jumped in."

"Did I hurt her?" Riku asked frantically.

"If you did you wouldn't be alive." Yomigami answered him coldly. "It's a good thing Lightning put that dart in you, or you might have even killed her the way you were trashing about." Riku let the information sink in and he looked down at his hands. "The heir placed some sort of Heartless limiter on all of us, which acts like a sort of tranquilizer."

**A m a t e r a s u **

I sat near Lightning as she looked down at the concrete floor she hadn't moved for quite some time. She had told me earlier that my eyes were crimson now instead of having the amber tinge with them, which made me think that maybe the lock was being rebuilt to hold the darkness back now. For such a strong fighter she looked very tired now, and it really did dampen my spirits too.

"What was that thing you pulled out of my neck?" I asked her as she leaned against the wall and looked up for a moment. She turned and looked back at me and sighed for a moment, not really wanting to talk about it, but she did it anyway.

"A Heartless limiter…" she said weakly. She noticed that I was worried about her at this point. "But don't worry, it's not life threatening, it's just like a tranquilizer…" her voice was soft now as she closed her eyes for a moment. "At least I'm not hurt…" she said and I smiled at her for a moment.

I heard a door open somewhere and I looked out past the bars of the cell. Someone wearing a black outfit came into the holdings. The person was short and wore a black coat with the hood over them for a moment I noticed that the figure had big round ears and my eyes widened for a small moment, even the shoes looked familiar, and they were pretty big on normal feet.

"King Mickey?" I asked curiously, and the figure turned around. I noticed a familiar dog and duck walk alongside him and I felt a big smile run across my face for a moment, but when I noticed the King's face I decided it was best not to express myself. Goofy stopped at our cell and I think he finally remembered who I was.

"It's you! Amaterasu!" Goofy said in his big dorky like manner. "Whatcha doin' in there? Wait… Don't tell me _your_ part of Gabriel's group now?" I looked down for a moment and I could tell he did seem a bit disappointed.

On the left side of the cell were the others. I heard King Mickey call out for Riku and I noticed that Riku walked out with white chains on his wrists. King Mickey had probably placed them with his Keyblade. Right now all of us are too weak to even do anything about it, since we've been dosed with those Heartless limiters. For Yomigami and me it just makes us sleepy since we aren't Heartless, but to Lightning it's like she's dying at a slow rate, I just really hope it wears off.

Goofy excused himself and so did Donald Duck, strange though that those two refused to accept the magic from this world. At least then they wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb, but I guess they did like their outfits, so I don't hold it against them or anything. Lightning looked back at me and opened her mouth slightly.

"Who were they?" she asked referring back to the duck and the dog.

"Old friends…" I said with some slightly joy in my voice, but I didn't have the strength to express my happiness now. "I knew them back when King Mickey visited my home world, Radiant Gardens."

"That must have been a long time ago then…" Lightning said closing her eyes, I know she was trying her best not to sleep, but I mean even a Heartless has their limits. I nodded and I found my self rest my head against her shoulder. "I'm going to rest my eyes for a moment…" she muttered and with that I knew she fell asleep.

"Same here…" I whispered closing my eyes, it felt like I hadn't slept in a long time.

**R i k u **

Here I was walking down a corridor that looked rather ancient, but somehow it seemed remodeled but they still kept the same style, they just touched it up a bit. Gothic archways were in full view ahead of me, in a way it reminded me of this old church by one of the islands back home, we had gone there on this fieldtrip a while back. King Mickey was in front of me and Donald and Goofy were in back of me.

I know that King Mickey isn't all that happy, I think he's a bit furious but I mean I have a good reason for going with Gabriel, we're going to steal the sphere once we have it in our position. At least that's what Amaterasu says, so I'm sticking with that plan because I know she wouldn't lie to me.

The only thing King Mickey told me was that the heir, Versus, of the capital Elusion-Ilusion would like to speak with me. Still I mean I almost could've killed the guy and yet he still wants to speak with me. I still don't understand why Amaterasu was there crying, or why she wanted to protect the heir, but then again I mean she does have kind heart. Did she feel sorry for the heir?

That's a question I might never know the answer too, but I'll believe what my heart says and go with a solid 'yes'. But anyway back to the present we've stopped walking down the corridor.

"Inside here is the heir." King Mickey said looking back at me. "Even I don't know why he wishes to speak with you…" he already knew about what had happened. "Riku… Why?" he asked referring to everything I've done up until this point.

"It's for her…" I said looking down for a moment. "I want to keep her safe…" King Mickey let out a small sigh and Donald and Goofy took it as their cue to let us have some privacy, no doubt the King would tell them later. "I know some pieces of her past… She's changed a lot, I can tell she has…"

"What I can't understand is why she went back with _him_?" King Mickey said rubbing his head for a moment. "She… I don't now what does on in her head. She doesn't use that head of hers all that much. I guess she just wants to make it up to her brother…"

"What do you mean?" I asked looking at King Mickey. He sighed for a moment and looked down at the floor. There was a deep burgundy carpet that stretched all through the hallways.

"I mean… You know that her affair with Xehanort cut her and her brother off from the Chasers." I made a face hearing that again. "Her brother still resents her relationship with Xehanort, and for as long as I've known her and Yomigami, he still harbors some hate towards the deceased man…. The point I'm trying to get across is that she's only in Gabriel's group to make her brother happy, to re-experience the Chaser like environment."

"But that's stupid!" I didn't care if I was in a royal figures presence, but I mean come on that's pretty retarded it you ask. And it was like her, trying to please everyone but herself. Doesn't anything get through that head of hers? I mean I know a part of her misses that too, but if she's only in it to keep her brother happy what's the point? Wait… does she even care that we're suppose to get that sphere?!

"Anyway, Riku," King Mickey cleared his throat for a moment. "Versus is waiting for you. I suggest you be on your best behavior around him." With that when King Mickey knocked on the ebony doors they slowly opened.

**Conference Room of ****Elusion** **Castle**

Riku sat down on the chair that was pulled out for him by telekinesis, courtesy of Versus of course. Again the heir sat in his gothic modeled chair, with the sphere placed directly in the center of the table, encased with glass. Riku felt a bit uneasy being in Versus' presence since he did almost take his heart a while back.

"That girl is something special…" Versus said watching Riku shift uncomfortably in his chair. "I owe both of the girls especially… Funny, I didn't think you'd be like that arrogant fool…" the heir said laughing at the thought in his head.

"I beg your pardon?" Riku asked placing his hands on the table, they were still chained together. Versus sighed and leaned forward in his seat mimicking Riku's fashion.

"What I mean is you're like that other fool who wielded the 'Way to Dawn' Keyblade." Versus said hoping that made sense to the teen sitting on the opposite side of him.

"What?" Riku asked schocked. "Hold on your saying someone has used _my_ Keyblade before."

"It's not yours…" Versus said sighing for a moment getting comfortable in his chair. "It's the Chaser's Keyblade, they made them and gave them to capable fighters. Sadly Another had to go and get that Keyblade from one of the first Chasers, excluding himself as one. A girl by the name of Aquan crafted that Keyblade with her whole heart and soul. She lived her in the capital of Sunset Horizon, and so did another Chaser by the name of Ven. Aquan and the King share the same Keyblade, and no doubt that boy Sora shares the same Keyblade as Ven. If that's the case I'm afraid history will repeat itself one way or another."

"Wait so you're saying that we're related to the Chasers?" Riku asked trying to figure it all out, but it was still a bit vague. Versus at this point couldn't really provide a good answer.

"I don't know if by blood, but you each wield the same destiny… and if that's the case… Yours I'm afraid will be just like Xehanort, or Another, whatever the hell his name was... Same role in the Keyblade War." Versus said noticing Riku growl a bit from the comparison. "I know you don't like him, but if you know a bit more about him, you might save yourself from your horrible fate… See I've been doing my own research too."

"… Then give us the sphere and we won't make the same mistake twice." Riku said noticing he included himself with Xehanort. Versus shook his head. "Why not?! I won't be like him, I'm completely different from him. What makes you…?" Versus cut him off.

"The girl…" Versus said referring to Amaterasu. "This Amaterasu person Mickey mentioned. She had her fortune told in by a voodoo priest a while back, from what King Mickey could remember. She was christened as the Princess of Darkness after meeting Another back when he lost his memory. You know that Xehanort sent a girl by the name of Kairi to your home world and there she found the Keyblade's Chosen One. This girl plays a similar role…" Versus relaxed for a moment stretching his arms for a moment.

"But how? I mean she…" Riku was just left in confusion by the whole thing and nothing was making sense to him. For that small moment everything he knew about her seemed like a lie. What she told him Chasers chased after power and created Keyblades, so it meant that there was a division from the original Chasers and the current ones.

"She was given the role of find the second Dark Master." Versus said. "And she found you. It's not like it comes to a surprise since you do wield Xehanort's old Keyblade, and you were once comrades with the darkness…"

Riku slammed his first onto the table and stood up. "That's not true!" he couldn't control the surge of rage in him. "I'm nothing like that freaking bastard!" he said angrily.

"Well…" Versus said not really expecting that sort of outburst. "That's for this little sphere to decide, it probably might pick someone else it thinks is suitable for the job, it goes for the one with the most darkness in their heart…" he said motioning to the glass case. "If you do in fact have that much darkness in your heart, then you'll repeat history again… You'll be the host for the Dark Master, and it'll be like your last adventure all over again. If you really thought it was going to be another side to another story, you're mistaken, **_Riku der dunkle Meister des Keyblade_**." it means 'Riku the Dark Master of the Keyblade,' if Versus remembered his other language correctly.

Something struck a chord in Riku's mind when Versus said those words.

**A/N: You know what to do! _One_ review please!**


	31. Can't Keep Running Away

**A/N: Woot! Chapter 31!  
****A big thank you to **sorasheart281 **I just made the name up, but it's the one from the FF13, that one guy with those 13 weapons, he so OWNS!  
****  
Thank you very much **N.Neo **I like the title I gave him, it suits him just nicely!**

Thank you SO much DJ Diddy Dog **I don't know how far I can go with this, but you'll just have to keep on readin then, won't cha? I can't really tell you if he is or is not... Just gotta keep reading!**

Thanks Nameless Dragon**! I haven't heard from you in a while!**

And another big thank you to the readers, over 2000+ hits, heck yes!  
  
Disclaimer: I should've put this one up a couple of chapters back, I don't own anything from SE, except the Versus name cause I called him that, that's not his real name, but I like it...

This is what happens when you listen to Gackt, Hyde, Massive Attack, the song Black Balloon, and eating chips and ketchup so late at night.  
**  
On with the story!  
**

**Chapter 31: Can't Keep Running Away **

"Riku the Dark Master of the Keyblade…" Amaterasu said leaning her head against the cell wall. "I've been lying to myself and him the whole time…" she said closing her eyes again.

"So then what you're saying, Amaterasu," Lightning said looking up at the ceiling for a moment. "Is that if things do go according to plan, you might…?" she didn't want to finish the last phrase. The girl nodded in response and closed her eyes again.

"This is our last stop…" she said loudly so that her brother and Gabriel could hear.

"No it's not…" Gabriel said for once sounding optimistic about it all. "We still don't have the sphere…"

"We're never getting the sphere…" Yomigami said for a moment. "Amaterasu, stop with the charade now." She sat up for a moment amazed that her brother figured her out for a moment. "I'm not stupid, so stop trying to make me and him happy."

"What's he talking about Amaterasu?" Gabriel asked leaning against the wall of the cell. "Are you trying to tell me that you were going to double cross me?"

"Well you just said it…" Lightning said getting into the discussion now.

"No one asked you, Heartless." Gabriel said coldly.

All the conversations started out like that for about three days straight, and Riku still had not come back to his cell. Gabriel suggested that they most likely killed him, or exiled him to some far off remote area. Yomigami still wondered for a moment about Gekigami, his younger brother, but he had a feeling that he wasn't going to come back now.

"We've been here for 72 hours, Amaterasu…" Lightning said one day after the girl had asked her about that. Lightning did seem to be feeling much better for the most part, and Amaterasu didn't feel that tired now.

"Can't they just get to the execution part now…?" the girl said not really feeling the need to survive any longer. "It'd be better then, because that way Maleficent won't get the sphere…"

"That's true…" Gabriel said closing his eyes. "It's weird that you haven't asked about Gekigami…"

"I sort of came to a conclusion of my own about Brother…" Amaterasu said looking down at the icy floors. "Anyway there's no need for us now, we've done our part."

"I don't know about you but I want to live some more." Gabriel said contently.

"We've still got our promises to keep Amaterasu…" Yomigami said hoping to raise his sister spirit a bit. "Besides it wouldn't seem fair to Riku if you died, the kid's got a fucked up life as it is already…"

"That's something I'd expect Gabriel to say." Amaterasu said thinking about it for a moment. It was true for the most part, even if it didn't really agree to her moral on why someone would even care that much about her.

The door from the main entrance to the holding cells opened and everyone saw King Mickey and Riku walk in. They stopped short at Lightning and Amaterasu's cell, and in the display of a bright light the bars from the cell disappeared, and King Mickey stepped forward.

"Versus has requested your presence in the conference room." The royal mouse said to both of the girls there. They each nodded not really thinking about it at all, soon they had white chains on their wrists and King Mickey was soon leading the way to the conference room.

They all walked down the dark colored carpet that searched down the hallway. King Mickey turned back at looked at the girl who walked with her gaze fixed onto the floor. He could feel that some where in her heart she regretted everything up to this point in her life.

There was nothing King Mickey could do or say to make her feel a better, since it wouldn't reach her ears. She was a pessimist, which was the only thing that could be said about her for right now. No doubt her lies were catching up with her with each step she took to the large ebony doors.

Lightning looked down at Amaterasu trying to figure out what to say to the girl, but she couldn't think of anything. Heartless were not able to provide words of comfort coming straight from the heart, since they had no such thing. Still she could mimic the tone of comfort with ease, but to Lightning it didn't feel the same for some reason, she wanted to be able to provide it from her heart.

"I'm sorry…" Amaterasu said bringing herself to a halt. The others looked back at her for a moment and she started to speak again. "I mean, I never do think with my head at times, I'm too nice for my own good sometimes and maybe pleasing others isn't the best thing to do… But I want people to be happy, I want to make people smile. I mean, yeah, sure, it hasn't always been a good path or a bad path… I'm sorry for lying to you, and not telling you sooner… and I'm sorry I took you with me, I didn't think this'd happen…"

Lightning looked at her and for a moment she felt something radiate from within her empty heart. This warm feeling in her chest, she wondered if it was caused from Amaterasu's own heart. It did seem possible as the heart was very strange to her, and other Heartless like herself thought the appendage to be very strong. The feelings strummed into the empty corridor of her empty shell heart and it began to awaken slowly, and for a moment she felt water form around her eyes, but they quickly went away as fast as they came. It was a start for her, and that was all she wanted, a fresh start.

The four stopped in front of the enormous ebony doors and when King Mickey tapped lightly onto the door it was opened by an unseen force. Riku directed the way this time with Lightning and Amaterasu following closely behind. The girl didn't notice it right away but Riku didn't have any chains on his wrists. '_I know we probably won't be let go that easily…_' Amaterasu thought as she walked through the doorway with the Heartless at her side.

**L i g h t n i n g **

Strange that he still uses his telekinesis in everyday life, or at least from what my sight has been able to gather. Versus, the only heir of this capital, pulled out three chairs for us and we took the chairs and sat on them. I looked at Amaterasu for a moment, she still didn't look up at Versus. I'm assuming that she was lost in thought by her past actions now. This man probably knows about her, or else she wouldn't do that.

I don't really know so much about my 'client', as Gabriel called her, once I was brought into the strange world. What I do know is that I'm to be her guard, and she has made me what the creatures would say a 'friend'. I don't know if I can even consider myself a 'friend' as she once told me. Still for some reason I've grown sentimental attachment to this crimson scarf around my neck, it was the only thing I would not allow to have blended within the magical surroundings of this capital, Elusion-Ilusion.

"First of all," Versus finally spoke after what seemed mere seconds of our arrival. "I'd like to thank you two ladies for saving me. I know that it was not part of your plan, but I am in your debt, so to speak." He said placing slight smile on his lips.

"It was not my idea to save you." I told him simply in my own tone. "If you should be thanking someone, it should be Amaterasu." I said directing his attention to the girl. "She was the one who did the action. I just did my duty as her guard." That was enough to get Amaterasu out of her thoughts as she looked up slightly at the dark blue haired heir.

She gave him a weak smile, probably out of emotional exhaust if that's even possible to say for someone like her. He thanked her again and it seemed to make her feel a bit better from the look on her face now. She sat up and looked at Versus and then at me for a small moment trying to think of something to say.

"Before we start questioning…" Amaterasu began to speak bringing her hands on the table and cupping them for a moment. "Was there a survivor on the ship that you ordered to be brought down?"

"If you're referring to the gummi ship you boarded." Versus rubbed the back of his neck, apparently he seemed a bit uncomfortable around this certain subject. "There were just the five life signs, I'm sorry if the deceased male meant something to you." I noticed Amaterasu flinch as he finished his sentence. Her second oldest brother died in such a short time, and here we thought that he had escaped.

"Thank you…" she said gloomy as she sunk back into her chair. I glanced at Riku as he sat next to her. Those two were inseparable, but I mean they are friends, possibly even more than that, but from what I've seen I think they're in denial, or at least Amaterasu is anyway.

A Heartless thinking about the possibility of their 'client' having emotional attachment to someone of the opposite gender, I don't think that thoughts like that wouldn't have been possible without the girl, she talks a lot, but I mean I don't mind one bit of it. She cleared her throat possibly trying to fight the urge to cry and from there the meeting went underway.

"You haven't told him anything have you, _**Dunkles Vorlagengeleitboot Amaterasu**_." Versus said getting the girl's full attention. If my translation is correct it means 'Dark Master Chaser Amaterasu'.

She looked away for a moment, from both Riku and myself and looked up giving a small nod. I noticed Riku looked away he didn't like the answer she gave him. I'm under the assumption that he is upset with her now. Amaterasu cleared her throat again. She did that only when she felt uncomfortable.

"Where would you like me to begin, _**erbe des Ausweichens-Ilusion**_?" she asked so formally, letting the words float into the air, creating this sort of more melodic tone to his title as heir of Elusion-Ilusion.

"Call me Versus." He said with this smile that made Riku turn in jealousy. I imagine that Riku isn't so fond of other males giving her that kind of attention. I mean she carries the appearance of a child after all, and anyone would treat a child like that, but I can see that the heart here makes his judgment somewhat lacking in that sense. "If you can though, _**Chaser des dunklen Vorlagenamaterasu**_, start from the reading given to you by Tia Dalma." He said in a casual manner. This title that he spoke of means, 'Chaser of the Dark Master Amaterasu'.

"My original title given to me by the revered voodoo priestess is _**Dunkle Prinzessin**_, meaning Dark Princess." She said starting to fidget around with the white shackles around her wrist. "From then on I was chosen to seek out the second Dark Master." I noticed her gaze went to Riku for a moment. "Just as Kairi, one of the seven maidens with the purest heart, was as an experiment to find the 'Chosen One', I dedicated my life to find the person who the voodoo priestess called, in your language, _**Gewählte von Schwärzung**_." Here again with my translation it means 'The chosen one of Darkness.' This here refers to Riku, though I know he doesn't want to be called that, no human in their right mind would want to be called that. "This was given to me after Xehanort had left, so I knew for a fact that he wouldn't serve to be the second Dark Master. Anything else you want me to add, Versus?" she asked.

"The Princesses of Heart, what are their roles?" he asked leaning into his chair for a moment. Amaterasu stayed quiet for a moment and then looked up at the gothic archways in the ceiling, the chandeliers hanging around the room seemed to shine off once in a while when there was light from the candles around the area.

"From a small text, it was said that when their hearts were tainted they opened a place of immense darkness, and the first Dark Master there learned how to control that power." Amaterasu said sighing for a moment. "Xehanort had fallen victim to the Dark Master on one occasion, where he became his right hand follower…" she stopped right there, and looked back at Riku for a moment. He still didn't look at her, nor did he talk at all.

"Riku's role…" Versus said not caring whether or not the boy did not wish to hear. "You want to elucidate that?" she nodded slightly and looked down at the table for a moment her eyes fixed on the glass case.

"_**Riku der dunkle Meister des Keyblade**_," she said softly. Riku looked at her for a second and sat back into his chair. "You were supposed to be the one who would save the realm of light, but you decided to pick the darkness. You wield _his_ Keyblade, and you most likely know what that means." She said looking at him now. "Our first meeting set your destiny into motion. I do not know whether the sphere will pick you, but you are the heir to that title, only time will tell… It's inevitable to escape that, you carry his Keyblade therefore you'll be like him, not matter how hard you try."

Riku gripped the armrest of the chair tightly, his wristbands clinked together at the sudden force he placed on them. He growled slightly, I'm guessing he's irritated now, no doubt it's not the first time he's heard that now. Amaterasu looked back down at her boots as she swayed her legs to and fro from the chair, she was nervous now about everything.

"Once Sora completes his training with Yen Sid…" Amaterasu said softly, just loud enough for the three of us to hear. "I can't guarantee his safety on my part… I'll be the cause of the problems."

Versus sighed for a moment and rested his head on his palm for a moment, his elbow resting on the armrest of his chair. '_I almost feel bad for Riku,_' I thought to myself finally taking into consideration his destiny that was before him now. It's something you can't run from, but I'm a Heartless so I don't have to worry about talks like that.

"That concludes our little gathering then." Versus said standing up from his chair. He walked past the three of us and gave us a simple farewell smile. "I wouldn't try anything funny with the glass case it won't budge that easily." He said and left the conference room.

"Lightning…" Amaterasu said softly looking up at for a moment. "You can go back with the others if you want." She said.

I in turn can't ignore an order that she gives, but I had the choice of either staying or leaving. Something in my mind, or rather what I think is my empty shell of a heart, tells me to stay with her for a while. I sighed for a moment and gave her my answer.

"I'll stay with you for a while, Amaterasu." I said mimicking her soft tone. How I'd give anything to sound human, rather than acting like a parrot at times.

**A m a t e r a s u **

I sat around uncomfortably in the chair, not really trying to make eye contact with Riku, but that was something even I considered impossible. My whole being felt horrible, worse than when I was under those Heartless tranquilizers. If I had the opportunity to go back in time, I would've never taken Chico out that day for a walk. I sighed for a moment and looked down at my boots again. Lightning had left a short a while ago, saying that she would wait for the two of us outside.

"Our destinies were intertwined from the beginning…" Riku said slowly, not tearing his gaze from the floor. "Even without the paopu fruit…" I could tell he sounded a bit crestfallen. "I never thought you'd be the bearer of bad news, Sun Goddess."

My name, I never did understand why she gave me that name. I always seemed to be too hard on myself putting myself down when others told me differently. I was so use to thinking about the negative aspects of my work, and of my life that I was just use to avoiding people.

"I didn't want you finding out this way, _ever_…" I told him truthfully. "Because I knew it'd be a little hard to take in…"

"I guess so…" he said I caught his gaze this time. "I…" he sighed again and hung his head down for a second or two. "This can't be set in stone."

"We're all given our destiny at one time or another." I said not really helping the situation all that much, but that's what I believed. "You can't run away from it…"

"There are a lot of things you can't run away from," Riku said looking at me. For the first time I noticed he had his original eye colors back. I'll be honest I did miss his eyes for a while.

"You want to explain?" I asked raising an eyebrow to the question. He didn't say anything for a while. "I didn't ask to be a Chaser, I was forced into it…"

**Current Scene **

"Forced?" Riku asked feeling curiosity swell up within him. "Why would they force you into it?"

Amaterasu sighed for a moment and began to weave her little tale of her family and their decision to place her brother and her into the group. A while back there were four Chasers, including the Dark Master himself. It should be noted here that this was somewhat of a myth since there has been very little evidence to suggest it ever did transpire. The Chasers broke off, two going one way, the other two going another way. Two walked the path of light, and the other two were 'the lost two', who decided that darkness would be the prefect way to show the world about themselves.

From what Amaterasu was told as a child their family members included great-great grandparents who were from the branch of 'the lost two,' meaning that they studied in the ways of mastering the darkness. Which meant that they would also be the ones seeking out greater power, not like the other branch at all.

"Since it was a family thing, they wanted me to go into it…" she sighed for a moment. "I didn't want to, I wanted to run around and play with all the other kids. I didn't want to be sheltered, having to study and stuff like that…" Amaterasu said looking up at the ceiling for a moment. "But it was something that'd make my family happy… I didn't question anything, because I thought it was right… The experiment part, I was talked into it my father and Yomigami…" she stopped for a moment and looked back at him. "I haven't been very honest lately…"

"I noticed…" Riku said distastefully at that fact. "I don't want to… I don't care what anyone says I'll change my destiny somehow."

"You should've taken my life that day…" Amaterasu said thinking back to the day in Traverse Town. "You could've shaped it that day… And you wouldn't be having this conversation, in fact I don't think you'd even be in this place."

"Yeah well, you wouldn't be alive…" Riku said thinking about it for a moment. "It probably wouldn't do me any good since well we were still friends back then."

"Are you saying we aren't friends now?" she asked in a rather hurt tone. He shook his head an apologized for the way his comment came out. "But you're right…" she said finally taking it into account.

"I know you can't run for what already has been laid out for you, but you can prolong it." Riku said sounding confident about it now. "But there's one thing I don't want to run away from…" he said his voice was a soft whisper now. "You shouldn't run away from it either…"

Amaterasu looked at him for a moment trying to figure out what it was he was trying to get at, but she couldn't read his mind. It had been playing around in Riku's head for a while and he finally wanted to tell her before it was too late for them. For once he was able to tell her, no distractions, no Gabriel, just the two of them, alone. He sighed for a moment trying to figure out how to tell her those three little words, but it seemed even harder to do now.

Amaterasu thought about the possible things you wouldn't run away from, destiny, and destiny… and destiny. So she couldn't think of anything else, she just didn't know what else _to_ think. She shook her head for a moment.

"What else _can't_ you run away from?" she asked looking at him for a brief moment. Riku smiled slightly looking at her for a moment. He shook his head. "Hey come on, I can't think of anything else!" she said growling at him for a moment.

"Fine…" he sighed and got up from his chair and outstretched his hand for a moment. "Come on, I want to show you something." She took his hand, though it was more like she gave him both of her hands, due to the chains on her wrist. He pulled her up and walked her to one of the large windows within the room.

"Ok…" she said feeling like a little kid, being led somewhere she had no clue about. They stopped short at one of the windows and Amaterasu gazed outside. It was still snowing outside, and from the view up here it looked beautiful. Her smile grew for a moment and all her troubles seemed to go away.

"There are a lot of things you can't run away from…" Riku said holding her hands gingerly in his. He watched the snow fall to the ground, giving the capital some color in its gothic styled architecture. His turquoise eyes scanned the sky, watching the snow continue its little show. "You can't run away from friends…"

She looked at him for a moment and nodded sadly. She thought back to her childhood, remembering one good friend she had, but when the time came for the testing days she pushed herself away from her bosom buddy. Amaterasu never did think of her best guy friend in the whole world, until now. '_I run away…_' she thought squeezing Riku's hands for a moment.

"You can't run a way from your past either…" he said squeezing her hand back in a reassuring way. "I've decided to come to terms with some things, but not all. You just have to take it one step at a time…" Riku smiled at her.

In the distance there were people like Matsu and Seruma living out their lives facing tough problems as well. Even people here in the capital, everywhere in the world, but they always took their time. '_Time…_' that was something she had.

"You've got all the time in the world!" Riku said outstretching his hands of emphasize. "Why don't you use it?" he asked her softly. She shrugged her shoulders and he shook his head. "Well you have to start using it!" he said sighing for a moment. Right now it was like talking to a child, well sort of anyway.

In the distance unknown to the two teens Lightning had gone back inside to checkup on the two. Lightning wanted to note Amaterasu's feelings, just to see if she was doing all right. For now what the Heartless could gather was that she seemed to do a bit better now. She didn't make her presence known because it'd ruin what the humans called their 'moment' so to speak.

"You can't run away from people who care about you…" Riku said staring out into the window pane. "They've given up so much to do what it is that they do… for the people they care about…"

"You can't run from destiny, friends, your past, people…" Amaterasu said finally understanding what he meant by the last statement. She looked down for a moment wanting to hide under a table now. "You…" she had a hard time saying it. "You can't run from love either."

"As gay as it sounds…" Riku said rubbing the back of his head for a moment. "You can't, because it comes back in full circle. You can't be afraid of rejection…"

"I'd rather be lonely for the rest of my time than face rejection…" she said stubbornly for a moment. "But then again… I can't handle being lonely so I mean I guess…" Amaterasu sighed for a second and smiled. "I'll be optimistic for once and say we'll find a way to change our destiny…"

Lightning felt a smile creep up on her mouth, another feeling radiated from within her chest. Again it was the same feeling from before when Amaterasu had apologized, she didn't feel tears swell up around her eyes, but she felt this warmth there. She felt happy for them. '_Maybe it is possible for someone like me to have a heart after all…_' Lightning thought to herself.

The Heartless watched, amused at the display of childlike affection being place between the two teens. They still were in denial, which to the Heartless seemed rather foolish, but none the less amusing to watch. '_I hope you can keep your promises, Amaterasu._' She thought letting a very soft sigh escape her lips.

"Not a million fights could make me hate you…" Riku whispered softly into Amaterasu's ear, he couldn't help but nibbled on it. Sadly the girl thought otherwise, jabbing her boot onto his foot.

"You are _so_ lucky right now I can't use my hands…" she whispered harshly to him. Riku laughed nervously, not really liking the outcome of any of the things he had in his mind. Lightning fought back the urge to laugh, shaking her head for a moment.

"What _would_ you being doing with your hands anyway?" Riku asked. He knew why she laughed, because he was thinking the same thing, it was something, for lack of a better word, perverted. "Anyway…" he stopped short as he felt her body collide with his.

Amaterasu rested her head against his chest hearing his heart beat a little faster now, probably out of embarrassment, or shock. She closed her eyes letting the beating of his heart sooth her for a while. '_You can't run away from life…_' she thought to herself. Riku rested his head against hers sighing in content for now.

"Even black flowers blossom…" the girl whispered to herself. There was a chance to shape their destiny, somehow, and she'd want to find a way to shape it with him. Amaterasu looked up at him and he in turn looked at her, both exchanging small smiles to one another. "You can't run away from life." She said noticing the small smile on his lips.

"You're getting it now, see?" he pointed out, and she nodded slightly.

**In the hallway **

The guard handed Versus two objects that seemed unscathed from the wreckage of the gummi ship. It was a ring of some sort, and a blue little musical device. "It was the only things found in the wreckage. Do you wish for me to discard them, my lord?" the guard asked looking at Versus.

"No, that's all right." Versus said turning on the little musical device. "This belongs to one of the captives." He noticed a familiar name on the screen and blinked slightly. "I'm sure she'll be more than grateful to have it back. You're dismissed soldier." With that the soldier walked away, down the long carpet, Versus heard metal clank against metal as the armored combatant walked away.

He tossed the little device into the air, catching it with ease. It was very light, but it was nothing new to him. Many people within the capital had something similar to this. Versus scanned the ring for a moment taking into detail the craftsmanship. '_This was made by Moogles…_' the heir thought letting the ring rest on his hand. He walked down the hallway taking a moment to watch the snow fall softly on the windowsill, and he sighed heavily. '_I hope we this country doesn't go into the Second Keyblade War…_' Versus wanted to keep the capital in one piece.

Versus made his way down to the conference room, and noticed that one ebony door was slightly opened. He paused for a moment and thought who could've opened it, thinking that Riku had led the two females back to their cell. He walked in, and stopped quickly noticing Lightning look at him. He looked into the distance and noticed the other two lost in a conversation.

'_The **Dunkle Prinzessin **and **Riku der dunkle Meister des Keyblade**, a real shame those two had to meet like that. Destiny can be cruel sometimes, but at the end of a dark journey the light awaits,_' he thought back to what his father had once told him as a young boy.

Lightning watched the two talk for a while longer and turned to look at the heir for a moment. _'They don't know we're in here?'_it was the heir's voice entering the Heartless' mind. She shook her head in response and rubbed the back of her head for a moment. '_It's best we not disturb them…_' Lightning thought in response to what the heir had projected into her mind. _'Then why are you here?'_ Lightning thought for a moment and wondered about it herself. '_It's natural for a Heartless to be curious…_'

"I love you, Amaterasu…" Riku whispered to her. She looked up scanning his eyes for a moment. "I'm not joking…" he said sounding hurt for a moment. Amaterasu didn't respond for a while, something was caught in her throat. All the girl could do was nod, she was still in a daze of some sort.

Before Riku could kiss her, that was Versus' cue to walk in. "Do it on your own time…" Versus said walking in on their moment. "I've got something here that belongs to Amaterasu." He said noticing the girl step to the side to get a better look at the heir. "Here… Stretch out you hand." Versus had the mp3 device appear in her hands and the ring. "Don't leave stuff like that lying around."

Riku let out a long sigh and shook his head. '_How many chances have I had to kiss her?_' he thought about it for a moment and felt like banging his head on a wall or something. He looked back at Versus, and noticed that Lightning was standing by the doorway. '_When did…?_' he decided it was better not to think about it for now.

Amaterasu sighed for a moment feeling imaginary wings flutter around in her stomach. '_Well at least I know he…_' she couldn't finish her thought as a battered soldier ran into the conference room. Everyone turned their attention, and Versus held a look of worry in his eyes for fraction of a second. The soldier's blue visor was cracked in half and blood was running down his armor. Something was about to happen very soon, she could tell.

"In the…" the soldier breathed in pain, "desert… an army of…" his vision was starting to give out as blood was getting into his eye, "Heartless…"

**A/N: You know what to do, but this time _two_ reviews this time, please!**


	32. First Step

**A/N: Sorry you guys for the long wait but writer's block finally got to me! **

Nameless Dragon:** Thanks for the review, and yeah he finally told her after 31 chapters, it's about time though. **

Matt-san:** Thanks buddy! I know, but anyway I hope your other deal turns out well too, and I'll be missing you that whole week. My heart goes out to you! **

N.Neo:** Thank you very much for the advice and all. You know I've been inspired from reading your stories so you deserve some praise, and reading that new chapter pulled me out of writers block so yeah! **

**On with the story! **

**Chapter 32: First Step **

Versus stormed out of the castle walking down onto the snow covered streets of his capital and looked around the area. How was he going to keep the whole capital safe? There was no doubt in his mind that they probably have Nokia under their control. '_Damn it all!_' Versus thought walking down the streets of his capital. In the distance no doubt the desert harbored those Heartless creatures.

_"Go with King Mickey." Versus said directly to the three standing before him. The soldier had died there on the spot, and he'd have to alert more soldiers to be on their guards when going into the desert. Versus ordered another soldier to go and pick up the deceased fighter from the conference room floor. _

_Amaterasu bent down looking at the soldier, the blood had seeped onto the floor, running down for a couple of minutes. Lightning watched from a distance, the smell of blood was slowly starting to make her feel a bit strange. _

_"Are you…?" Riku was about to ask and Versus didn't seem that happy to have him question his order. The silver haired teen decided it was best to leave it alone and the others followed behind him as Versus waited for the other soldier to come pick up the deceased fighter. _

_"This is what they want…" Versus said lifting the glass case once again with the use of his mind. The sphere dance around the table, and it fell with a very soft thud. He picked it up and placed it within the confines of his pant's pocket. "Hopefully they don't advance too far into the capital…" _

The heir looked back noticing several soldiers wait by the outskirts of the snow covered area. The air had this distinct aroma, something rather different about it all. '_Heartless?_' he thought reflecting back on the smell that was around the woman Lightning. The soldiers saluted him, their feet shuffling in unison against the white snow.

"How far till they reach capital territory?" Versus asked one of the blue visor bearing soldiers. One of the soldiers stepped forward, in the back ground, the snow melted into the desert colored sands.

"About an hour, your majesty!" the soldier said almost feeling afraid at this point now. Versus nodded and the soldier went back into the line amongst the others at this moment. He sighed and nodded for a moment thinking of what to say next, but all that could come out of his lips were these words:

"Fight them with your whole heart, to protect the capital." He said, and they all agreed in unison, their feet shuffling in unison once again as they stood at ease.

For a moment he thought about the strength of his men, he had nothing to fear, but only to focus on his being to stay alive. It was tough being the only heir, since well, who else was going to run the most powerful capital in all of Sunset Horizon?

At this point the smell was becoming a bit overwhelming, it just smelled. It wasn't something that smelled grotesque but you could just tell that it was a different scent that what ever was in the air. Versus walked a bit further ahead from where the soldiers were stationed, noticed a small black bunch gather on one part of the horizon. The thunderstorm clouds were starting to loom overhead.

"There's probably about, at least 500, the most about a thousand, if I'm correct." Versus said mostly to himself, but some of the other soldiers overheard, and whispered amongst themselves wondering whether it was possible to defeat that many Heartless. He looked back at them and heaved an audible sigh. "Relax you have me here too." Versus said giving a grin.

**Back within the capital's walls **

Several royal guards were left in charge to warn the citizens about the upcoming danger plaguing the country. People ran back into their homes, some women grabbed their children and went home immediately. The guards walked down in their armor yelling on the streets, telling them to return once to their homes.

Establishments closed their doors, and hid within their building, locking doors and praying for it to soon end. In other places, outside the area of the castle intercoms were erected within the city limits, and the citizens heard the news, quickly creating a desolate area among the streets.

Riku watched from within the castle, people running frantically up and down the streets. Doors opening and closing, people falling at some point. They looked like ants, just running back into their abodes. The snow was still falling, which made it a bit harder for citizens in their stylish outfits to run, without stumbling or slipping on the cold element covering the sidewalks and streets.

"Versus wants to transport the prisoners to another cell." One of the soldiers left behind said to King Mickey. Donald and Goofy stood behind His Majesty all the time, not once leaving the sight of the royal mouse. King Mickey nodded and ordered his two royal knights to carry out the order.

"Riku, Lightning, Amaterasu," King Mickey turned his attention to the three individuals as they sat down on an elegantly crafted bench, "come with me now." Lightning walked down first and Riku followed behind with Amaterasu at his side.

"Where to, Your Majesty?" Amaterasu asked hearing the chains rattle together with each step she took. She thought about it for a moment, and knew it wasn't someplace comforting. Lightning looked back at her and she shook her head. There was something Amaterasu didn't like when King Mickey would be serious, it never was a good indication for her.

"For now, Amaterasu," Mickey said looking straight ahead, "a place where the Heartless won't find us."

"Shouldn't we be helping Versus though?" Amaterasu asked out loud. "I mean surely _he_ can't take them on all by himself!" she said frowning for a moment. There was no use in having the king answer her, since he was still trying to forgive her somehow.

"He has his men." King Mickey said as they all descending the spiraling staircase that was down the hallway. "Besides he has been the one defending this capital since he was 15 years old… Watch your step." He warned them as the light within the area was a bit dim.

"Fifteen?!" Amaterasu couldn't help but ask. "I mean…"

"There's been only one ruler younger than him, and he is currently twelve years old." King Mickey said interrupting Amaterasu. She almost tripped and Riku caught her by the arm sighing in relief. "We'll take the chains off of Lightning and you, Amaterasu, once we reach our destination, I promise you that."

Donald and Goofy were about a couple of feet away from their king walking with Yomigami and Gabriel. Sadly Donald wished he could just glue Gabriel's mouth together. Donald growled for a moment when Gabriel tried to take the mage's hat and smacked his hand away.

"How does a duck become a mage?" Gabriel asked looking at the white feather duck for a moment. "And a dog a royal guard?" he asked looking up at Goofy for a moment. "You know what nevermind… It'd be to hard for you guys to try and explain that to me."

"Just shut up, Gabriel…" Yomigami said rolling his eyes. He rejected the magic within the world, and now wore a red hooded sweater casual jeans and red and black shoes. "I've had to put up with your damn talking for-"

"Oh come on, I'm not that bad." Gabriel said walking alongside the older sibling. "Besides you're all alone no-" Yomigami slammed him against a stone wall and growled at him.

"Just shut your goddamn mouth, you piece of shit!" Yomigami said, wishing more than anything to dig his experimental claws into the man's heart. Goofy pulled Yomigami back, straining a bit since he seemed to be a bit out of control. Gabriel just smiled for a moment and continued his walk deciding not to say anything now.

**Capital outskirts **

Several soldiers advanced with their automatic weapons, not once thinking about the outcome now. Thoughts like that would most likely end their lives quickly, their hearts being stolen. Versus ran along side with them watching different Heartless come into view. About a couple of armor plated Heartless and non artificial Heartless ran ramped in their direction. Guns went off and Versus grasped his sword, eyes glowing red for a moment.

The smell from the Heartless started to get to Versus for a moment, but he pushed it away, believing it only to be a trick of the mind. He blocked an on coming attack, and quickly countered with a quick stabbing motion. A soldier pulled the trigger on his weapon, and bullets pierced through the flesh of the Heartless, falling down.

The heir outstretched his hand, and a flame appeared over his glove, he mimicked a gun action with his hand, and the flames reached several armored Heartless discharging moments after impact. Versus commanded his mind to force a lance to appear out of thin air, and it hovered by his side as he ran forward.

Soldiers were pushed back by Behemoths, guns skidded against the desert sand and helmets fell. The visors broke from impact on the desert's grounds, and soldiers had to rely on their own eyes for support. One soldier turned around and positioned their gun at a nearby Heartless, but before the trigger was pulled the sound of metallic scrapping against the sands was heard.

Another soldier turned around to notice his comrade fending off a Heartless that pinned their body on the ground, Claws frantically trying to break the armor to reach the heart. Another gunshot was heard and the Heartless toppled over, twitching for a moment and disappeared into the air.

The Heartless could sense that the heir had the object they sought after, and quickly surrounding him. '_There are about 20 or 35 at least if you round off…_' he thought commanding the lance to block a mid air attack. He spun around just in time to attack another Heartless that was approaching. '_Thunder…_' with that the lance had a surge of lightning dance around the tip. The lance cracked the grounds of the desert and electricity shot out hitting several Heartless.

'_Fire._' The metal from his sword began to glow a light red color and as he charged forward the weapon instantly began to go ablaze. As he struck down several Heartless they received heavy and gruesome life threatening burn marks before completely disappearing back into mist. Other Heartless decided to attack from the air, their claws ready to pierce into flesh. '_Damn it!_' Versus didn't have enough time to block the full assault, and as he shielded his face with his arms a white light appeared directly overhead. Twelve other lances created a protective barrier around him slashing at any approaching heartless.

One soldiers was broken, their face clearly visible now, sweat was dripping on the side of their face. The desert was taking a toll on their performance as the heat was catching up with them. The weight of the protective armor and the heat inside the getup was starting to hinder the progress of their attack. The Heartless felt no such thing as heat and their attacks continued on the soldiers, as they were cracking armor, shattering faceguards, and several Heartless managed to steal the hearts of the opponents.

A couple of soldiers stood in a circle with their backs against one another looking at the surrounding group of Heartless. A large massive Heartless that looked like an ape was closing in on them. Bullets became aerodynamic weapons piercing through the air at rapid speed, dust was kicking up from the wind that came and about twenty Heartless fell down with lead lodged into their frames.

Versus looked back at the remaining soldiers. Their armor was starting to wear out, cracks and dents all over the place. Blue solid material decorated the grounds giving off a glittering effect as he rushed by the area slicing through three Heartless, their heads rolled to the floor and the body twitched for five seconds, and it disappeared. The numbers began to fall rapidly once Versus had those thirteen lances around him, as he moved they telekinetically followed covering a ten feet radius around him, and whenever he spotted a Heartless the weapon sought it out and stabbed it till it disappeared. Versus panted for a moment feeling his energy drain, due to the conditions in weather now. '_I should've taken the weather into consideration…_' he thought shaking his head as he raised his sword once more.

The soldiers made their way to the heir, metal hitting the surface of the warm climate area. The ape like Heartless stopped for a moment as lances whizzed by its ears. '_This is the last one…_' Versus thought as he ran forward with all his might, ready to end this little battle once and for all. The Heartless let out a might roar and charged at the heir not flinching at the sight of the mind controlled lances or at the sword in his hands.

**Underneath the ** **Elusion-Ilusion** **Castle**

This was an underground waterway by the look of things; or rather it was the sewers. Amaterasu couldn't really handle being in there, but since King Mickey was leading them down there she was sure that they had to go through there. '_I wonder if the Heartless have already breached the city. Not likely though…_' she thought looking up at the corroding sewer walls. Donald and Goofy had finally caught up with them, bringing Yomigami and Gabriel with them.

The girl jumped back noticing something black scurry past her feet. Her heart raced for a moment and she gulped hearing a faint 'squeak' noise near her. '_I hate rats…_' she thought shaking her head and continued her walk. Goofy looked at her for a moment and he titled his head.

"Don't tell me you're a-" he squinted his eyes at the girl.

"Yes! I'm afraid of rats!" she said loudly, at that point she felt her face get hot in embarrassment. Gabriel started to laugh at this point recalling a similar moment back when they were still young. "Shut up Gabriel…" she huffed and continued her walk, bumping into Riku. "Sorry…" she said apologetically looking at Riku.

"Rats…?" he asked smiling at her for a moment. Amaterasu sighed for a moment and nodded. "We're all afraid of a lot of things, so don't worry." He said.

Lightning walked alongside Amaterasu and Riku not really wanting Gabriel to keep her company. Even the Heartless felt some annoyance when Gabriel started to talk. '_God only knows what kind of Heartless he would be…_' she shuddered at the thought.

The mage in blue, Donald, watched the water that was off to the side of him. He noticed that a large black sewer rat swam in the water, and he shuddered in disgust. '_Amaterasu would scream if she that…_' he thought thinking back to the girl. '_Never woulda guessed in a millions years she'd go back…_' He scratched the top of his head and continued walking through the damp area.

"You think Heartless will attack here?" Amaterasu couldn't help but ask Lightning. Lightning seemed to be lost in thought as she walked down the area. Amaterasu had never taken into consideration the certain aroma a Heartless produced until she stood that close to the woman. '_She smells like anemone…_'

"No…" Lightning shook her head. '_They're all gone now. Every single one of them, even down to the ape Heartless. It's a bit unnerving knowing that maybe I could've been one of those defeated Heartless. Still my insides feel bad because I wasn't able to assist them in fighting Versus and his soldiers, but…_' She shook her head and looked ahead the clearing was in full view. '_I shouldn't be thinking like that. My priority is to Amaterasu she needs my protection._'

Before they crossed over into the light, where their next destination would be King Mickey stopped Amaterasu for a moment. "As promised I would let you go." He said pulling out his Keyblade, with a swift motion of the blade the chains broke apart, their white material fading into the wind. Amaterasu bowed for a moment and rubbed her wrist. She pulled out her Keyblade and broke the chains off of the Heartless.

Riku walked out into the light, and shielded his eyes for a moment and looked at the area before him. Everything was covered in white material, and some white material fell from the grey skies. He looked up and let some of the white element fall to his palm. '_Snow…_' he thought looking back at the others. This area had no life in it; it was just covered in bare trees, almost like a forest of some sort.

"We're safe in this area." King Mickey said as his shoes crunched on top of the snow. "For now Versus wants us to stay here, since we've prepared ahead if something like this happened. We just never thought it would happen so soon." He said pulling his hood off. "I'm positive he's all right, so we should be hearing from him soon."

Amaterasu sighed and looked up the snow from her point of view didn't look like it was falling. '_It looks like it's rising up…_' she thought to herself. She shivered slightly letting the cold get to her now. '_And I hate this world's getup! Why did I let the magic fashion a skirt for me? Good deities it's freezing!_' at that point her thoughts were broken as she felt a warm material fall over her. "Th… Thanks, Riku." She said looking back at him.

"No problem." He said looking over his shoulder the others were a bit behind them. "Listen about…" Riku stopped for a moment and sighed a bit. '_Now it's awkward…_' he mentally kicked himself about telling her, but he finally got it off of his chest. "Never mind…"

"Suit yourself, Riku…" Amaterasu said in a small voice. "You aren't cold?" she asked. Snow fell on her head and she ruffled the snow off of her hair. Riku shook his head for a moment and looked at her up and down.

"I'm not the one wearing a skirt…" Riku said poking fun at her. She made a face and buttoned up the coat that kept her warm. "Hey come one I was joking."

"I know…" she said looking at him for a moment. "But I mean this really isn't a time for jokes, we're sphere-less and we have a week till Maleficent decides to send more Heartless over here, in case if you haven't forgotten."

"Sphere-less?" Riku asked looking at her and she shrugged for a moment. '_The girl has a point though…_' the Heartless within him made its way into the topic. '_Come on just leave me alone for once…_' he thought fighting with himself. '_Then find a way to give me a good body to posses!_' the Heartless growled.

"Earth to Riku…" Amaterasu waved a hand in front of his eyes for a moment and sighed snapping the boy back into reality. '_What's he thinking about anyway…?_' she couldn't but think for a while about it now. '_It's probably nothing important…_'

**A m a t e r a s u **

A couple of minutes came and went and King Mickey spoke to us about the current situation at hand. So far from what I've been able to understand is that right now Versus is off fighting the Heartless to keep them from advancing. That means that probably the other city 'Nokia' has been taken under siege, or maybe they've been able to fight them off since there were a lot of guards around there, but I don't know till we get there.

The Heartless are seeking out the sphere from what the royal mouse has told all of us. That means that Versus probably took it with him to keep the Heartless from reaching the capital, but in case if that didn't work he ordered for the people to go to some place safe. The magic within the city could only protect them for so long. King Mickey said that once this was over he'd take the sphere with him back to his castle and would plan to get rid of the Dark Master once and for all with Sora's help.

Not to be mean or anything but Sora can't even breathe the same air as the Dark Master, with the way he fights he doesn't stand a chance getting rid of him. If the Dark Master possessed his body Sora would be lost forever!

King Mickey's been talking about a way without having to sacrifice anyone to be the host to defeat the Dark Master, but I don't know if it'll work. A place called the 'Room of Sleep' somewhere in Radiant Garden, maybe it'll be the last showdown there.

But anyway the 'Room of Sleep' can somehow force out the Dark Master trapped within this sphere that Versus now has in his hands. Though once he's out he might make a run for it. I probably would, not wanting to waste anytime with my sudden release, but that's just me, I don't know what the Dark Master would do personally, but I have a feeling this won't go down that easily. Call me a pessimist but that's what my gut tells me.

This is just the first step, locating the sphere and all. King Mickey has stopped talking since this is all the information he currently knows. Then the Princesses of Heart, once they became tainted they open this portal which the Dark Master enters. The Princesses of Heart contain the ability to suppress his powers, but only if they don't have darkness in their hearts. I know for a fact Maleficent has found a way to gather most of them, but it'll be useless unless if the witch can find Kairi.

For now all we can do is wait for a guard to come and find us, signaling our departure and back to the castle. Versus will likely hand over the sphere since he doesn't want his capital to be laid to ruins. I can't really dwell on the past now because thoughts like that will mostly likely kill me when I'm fighting. I'm getting sick of fighting though, but I have someone to protect, and no doubt they're thinking the same thing.

I sighed for a moment and looked back at Riku as King Mickey and the others walked around. With what happened earlier, it's still fresh in my mind, sort of. I don't remember what I saw but I remember his voice. '_I love you too Riku…_' I really wish he could read minds but I know he can't. "Riku…" I paused, feeling snow brushing against my nose. I looked up as the snow was lightly falling now.

**R i k u **

I heard her call my name, but she stopped and looked up at the grey sky. It's still snowing but I mean I don't mind the snow. I sighed to myself and just enjoyed the silence for a bit longer. '_I told her how I feel, and I couldn't have it any or way._' My heart was at peace for once, and it was something I wasn't accustomed to. '_Still I haven't kissed her and I'm beginning to think I'm having bad luck with that, or just bad timing…_' I shook my head and looked back at her.

I hugged her for a while resting my head against her shoulder and she whispered something, but I could barely hear it. I looked at her for a moment and I heard her give a soft laugh. "What did you say, Ammi?" I asked as her laughter tickled my ear for a moment. "And stop teasing me…" I said whispering into her ear.

"I said…" she whispered carefully into my ear, "this it our first step…"

"Towards what?" I asked after kissing her cheek. She blushed for a moment and sighed placing her hand over my mouth. The snow was still falling and a snowflake landed on my nose.

"To our future… To a world where only light lives…" she said sadly, mentioning that fact. "It makes me wonder what about those who used darkness, do they get lost in the whole ordeal, or are they just cleansed…? And what about those who like who they are do they have to change because of the light?"

For a moment she almost made it seem as though the light was the enemy as well. It's true though light is the enemy of darkness, and darkness is the enemy of the light. For her all she's known is darkness, and never light, but I know she has a strong heart or else she never would've gotten the Keyblade One Winged Angel. It makes me wonder whether at one point in time during her awakening she was like me, who used darkness and light in unison as a weapon. It's somewhere in the chains of her memory and I want her to share that with me, so our first step can begin.

Though for right now I have to focus on our mission. I'll do my best to protect her, because I care for her and she is my light. This is the first step, and from there you have to follow the whole procedure, but something tells me we might screw up in the directions, but we'll figure something out. I noticed the guard coming out of the entrance and Amaterasu turned around hearing something walk through the snow.

"He is requesting your presence once again." The guard said looking at all of us.

**A/N: You know what to do _one_ review please! **


	33. Second Step Another Departure

N.Neo: **Thanks! Oh yeah don't worry I did read your new chapter, but I'm a bit tied up at the moment to review. **

Sorasheart281:** For a moment I _almost_ had them kiss in this chapter but no, because I'm evil like that! And yes I do need to post more because I think that's where the writers block is coming from. **

DJ Diddy Dog: **Thanks for the review man! But I think my writers block is going away. **

**Hey you guys summer is almost here! But… **

**On with the story! **

**Chapter 33: Second Step Another Departure **

_"He is requesting your presence once again," the guard said stopping short to where King Mickey stood. He looked at all of those who were present and bowed formally before the group. "At this point he asks only that you come as soon as possible." _

_The round eared king looked back at Amaterasu and she scratched the back of her head. "Are you sure it's all right, your Majesty?" she asked curiously, waiting for the order to transport them. King Mickey nodded and she relaxed her shoulders. The others gathered around her as a black portal came into view. _

_The guard stepped bravely into the portal and the group followed behind feeling a blanket of ice cover their whole body within the darkness the portal provided. The guard's faceplate kicked into a sort of night vision goggle, with the blue visor glowing faintly. The readings on the walls of the transportation were not readable on the charts of the current technology used for darkness level readings. _

_"Just keep walking straight." Amaterasu said noticing the guard look around the whole area. It was just a swirl of black, crimson, and a deep shade of purple that paved the way to their destination. "Don't focus on the moving walls you'll get yourself lost." _

_Riku looked at the path before them and noticed that it changed colors once in a while along with the walls. He had never before paid attention to the surrounding area of a dark portal when he was younger, but now that he did he just found it a bit strange. King Mickey had no trouble navigating through it since he walked calmly alongside Amaterasu. Goofy on the other hand got a bit sidetracked and Amaterasu stayed behind to get him. _

The heir was dressed in a sort of royal outfit that had considerable fashion for temporary times, styled in a sort of Victorian outfit for men of his high stature. Versus sighed tapping his finger on the arm rest of his personal chair. His hair was a bit damp from the quick shower he took to refresh his body after the battle. '_I know King Mickey isn't walking back here…_' he began to think about the sewers, '_Heartless couldn't have advanced that far down, they didn't even get into the capital._' He rested his head against the chair looking up at the gothic archways of his home.

His arm, from the wrist ascending to the elbow was wrapped in heavy bandages, a flesh wound was hidden underneath the medical bondages. The ape like Heartless had taken a hold of broken automatic firearms and drove the metal to cut the heir's arm. With that attack it was enough to get the heir into his Berserk mood, a mood only noticeable because his eyes blazed in crimson.

The portal appeared across from him and he watched carefully as a black boot set foot on the floor of the room. The blue eyed Heartless stepped out carefully moving to the side as Donald appeared. Yomigami and Gabriel came out next and looked back noticing another person come into view. Riku stepped out and sighed heavily feeling the icy sensation leave his body. The guard sent to find them stepped out and excused himself from the room, no doubt to throw up since he felt this weight on his stomach when he walked back out into the earth's atmosphere.

"Where are the other three?" Versus asked in his regal voice. Lightning came forward and bowed to the man for a moment and addressed the current situation to him. "So then we're waiting for a while longer…" he sighed feeling some annoyance now. He just wanted to get rid of the sphere now so that it would be somebody else's problem.

King Mickey and Goofy walked out and Goofy bowed awkwardly apologizing for his actions. "Didn't mean to make ya wait for so long, King Versus." Goofy turned his gaze to Amaterasu as she walked out sighing heavily and the portal vanished from sight. "Sorry, Amaterasu." Goofy said laughing, "A-hyuck!" The girl just shook her and said it was no problem at all.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, your Majesty." Amaterasu said sweetly bowing for a moment.

"Sit." Versus said using his mind once more to pull out chairs for his guest. "I'm not too fond of having captives in the meeting room like this," his eyes traced back to where Yomigami and Gabriel sat, "but I shall make an exception, even with this one." Versus was talking about Gabriel. "Now, to get this all underway." The sphere hovered over the table for a moment. "The Heartless are responding to this, which means whoever holds it in their possession will be at risk for oncoming ambushes and such."

"We would be glad to take if off of your hands, Versus." King Mickey said looking back at the others. "Wouldn't we fellaws?" and the others agreed in unison. Versus raised a suspicious look on his face for a moment. "I assure you that nothing will disrupt your kingdom, again."

"We'll see… If history repeats itself again, I'll put the blame on you, no offence your Majesty." Versus said leaning into his chair for a moment. "I trust that the current three Chasers will be in your hands?" King Mickey nodded in agreement to this fact. "I see…" Versus noticed that Amaterasu was wearing Riku's coat. "Emotional involvement, I don't want that to be a factor for the second Keyblade War."

Amaterasu and Riku both flinched in their seats when Versus said that. "Such things like that, are best left after the battle." Both of the two teens nodded and noticed Versus grin for a moment. "Then you two are…?"

"King Versus…" Amaterasu said softly for a moment and spoke up this time. "Be serious for a moment… Right now…" Versus raised his hand and the sleeve moved back flashing the medical bondage wrapped around his arm. She held her tongue and sat up straight in her chair.

"I understand, Dark Princess Amaterasu. There is no need to tell me how to do my part. I was simply just trying to lighten the mood, but…" Versus stopped himself, and decided not to continue that sentence. "If the second coming of that event does come no doubt my countries Nokia, Ometry, Linden, and Pasena will be thrown into that war. I'll prepare the squads in each country and leave the rest of the training to the higher-ups within the country." The sphere finally landed in front of King Mickey and the mouse took his gloved hand and grasped it. "Surprisingly the sphere hasn't gone berserk, which means that Riku is not the one to start it."

There was a wave of relief coming from the royal mouse, Amaterasu, and Riku himself. Still Riku would one day become the second Dark Master, not now but later, that was far into the future. "Still there is always the possibility, so you'd best be on your guard, Riku." Versus said cautiously. "Don't let the darkness in your heart tempt you."

"It'd be best if someone just took out the darkness in my heart…" Riku muttered, but Versus caught his voice as it trailed around.

"That would be even more dangerous, it'll take form and grab hold of the sphere containing _him_." Versus said. "I want to part on good terms with you all, so I won't keep you here any longer, but if you wish you may stay a while and rest up, and also restock on supplies. Again, my deepest apology on the death of your brother, Amaterasu."

"What did you do with the body?" she asked looking down at the coat that wrapped around her. From what she heard Versus had ordered for his body to be cremated. King Mickey was left out of the factor so the news came as a bit of a shock for him, he didn't seemed that pleased that Gekigami had died. He had done nothing wrong and his death seemed unexpected.

"That is all I have to say now." Versus said standing up. The others followed his orders and rose from their seats. "I bid goodbye to all of you." With that he bowed and opened the doors of the room, and he walked out with an elegant stride, the two females bowed as Versus left the room.

To Amaterasu she still couldn't believe that the sphere was finally in their possession. It was like a dream come true for her. '_After all these years it's finally in our grasp!_' but the reality was that there was almost no one else who could understand how she felt. All she had now was Yomigami, and herself. '_I really wish you guys were here…_' her sigh became long and she stayed behind for a while.

Lightning first noticed that her 'client' had stopped moving and quickly moved back to let the others continue their path to the outside area of the castle. "Isn't this what you wanted?" the Heartless asked trying to figure out why the girl would be sad at a time like this. Amaterasu nodded and sighed again resting her head against the glass of the window. "But then why are you…?"

"It's just me and my brother…" Amaterasu said softly and Lightning leaned in a bit to catch the tone in her voice. "We have no one else who knows how we feel, except for Gabriel but he doesn't like the fact that King Mickey has the sphere in his grasp." She thought back to the promise she and her siblings had made to King Mickey the second time around when everything was still good. "We had promised him that we'd get the sphere for him one day…"

"Then I don't…" Lightning paused for a moment and placed a reassuring hand on Amaterasu's shoulder. "Listen you did your part, and with that came sacrifices."

"I wasn't ready to give them up… neither one of them wanted to die!" she said moving to the side from the Heartless' grip. "We were supposed to finish this job like a family!" she said slumping down to the ground. "It's not fair! Gabriel screwed up our chances, now look at us! Distance! That's all I'm getting from my own brother…" she said looking up at the blue eyed Heartless. "I wouldn't expect you to understand, I don't hold it against you but still…" she flinched as Lightning hugged her.

"Sshh…" the Heartless said in a soothing tone. "It's all right now… You're not alone, look who you have with you. You have one family member alive, you have the King who has decided to trust you, myself and with my protection, and Riku, the boy who gave his light to you." At that point Lightning had found something that set her apart from other Heartless. "I have something most Heartless will never have… A good friend."

Her words seemed so sincere to the girl and she couldn't help but feel sentimental. '_A good friend…_' the girl thought hugging Lightning back with enough force. The Heartless felt another spark within her empty shell of a heart, but the spark lingered a while longer. "You feel better now?" Lightning asked in a tone that sounded like a mother asking her child. Amaterasu nodded slightly and looked up at the gothic design on the ceiling. "I never thought a Heartless would call me a friend…" Amaterasu said smiling at the Heartless.

"There's a first time for everything. This is just the first step to getting my heart." Lightning said helping Amaterasu up to her feet. "_Now_ you want your heart?" Amaterasu asked looking curiously at the blue eyed Heartless. Lightning gave a small smile and nodded reassuringly. The two of them walked out together laughing for a moment at the whole idea, but the Heartless wasn't joking about the whole idea. "You did promise after all, Amaterasu. I want you to keep that promise for me."

**Outside on castle grounds **

Roses were in mid bloom even though it was still snowing, somehow they managed to sustain their beauty and growth. '_It's the magic in this place…_' Riku thought walking through the garden. "Your coat…" someone said softly in back of him. He turned around and paused for a moment. Amaterasu had his coat in her hands. "It's sort of warm here so… I don't need it now." She said smiling for a moment. "Where are the others?" she asked walking with Riku around the garden.

"Probably in town…" Riku went on to talking about the capital for a moment remembering to some places he had been to since he was 'freed' so to speak.

The turquoise eyed teen looked at one of the roses in his sight. It seemed like a different shade of blue, something magnetizing to his view. It was in full bloom, something rare for this time of year within the capital. Amaterasu watched the rose taking in essence its beauty.

"Something you don't see at all…" Riku said watching Amaterasu smiled for a moment. She shook her head and was she was about to walk Riku held her hand for a moment. "Here," he said plucking the rose from its safe haven.

"Riku, you… what if it dies by the time we get back to the castle?" she couldn't help but ask as she took it into her hands. The silver haired teen told her to push thoughts like that away from her mind. "But what if it _dies_? The magic in this world is keeping it alive and…" she got cut off as Riku placed his hand over her mouth. She protested again but her voice was muffled.

"Oh… What's that?" Riku asked placing his free hand to cup his other ear. "Oh, I'm sorry I can't hear you." He said jokingly. "But come on Amaterasu lighten up, it's not going to die." She nodded against his idea. "We'll have Donald keep it nice and frozen."

"FROZEN?!" she couldn't help but push away his hand. "It'll get frostbite!" she said pointing to the elegant blue rose in her hand. "The petals will get burned from the cold. And besides what if Versus finds out you plucked this rose?"

Riku couldn't really win the argument with her, since both of them wouldn't back down. The silver haired teen just pulled her along following the snowy path of the walk around the garden. Amaterasu sighed in defeat and placed the blue rose in her hair looking back at Riku with this sort of look; 'are you happy now?' was all that the turquoise eyed teen could make out from the expression of her face.

"It looks good on you," Riku said softly placing a gentle kiss on her cheek.

She made a gagging sound. "Don't go too mushy on me…" Amaterasu said looking up at him, "Besides emotional attachment should be left after the battle." She said pulling him along this time. Riku rolled his eyes and ignored the words coming from her mouth for a moment or two. "Hey… Look I know it's taken you a long time to…"

"You haven't said it though…" Riku said stopping in his tracks. "I told you, but you haven't told me yet."

"After the battle…" Amaterasu said giving a big grin. "So _you_ have to wait even _longer_!" she said feeling Riku pull her closes to him.

"I don't think I can wait that long…" Riku said placing his face dangerously close to hers. "By the time the whole battle is over I'd probably be dead…" he smiled watching her eyes dance around with life. He moved in for the kill, but in that spilt second Amaterasu moved her frame slightly.

"Lightning!" she said nervously feeling Riku stop in his tracks. Lightning watched the two teens for a moment and sighed heavily covering her eyes for a moment with one hand. Riku turned on his heels to look at Lightning but somehow instead of looking at the blue eyed Heartless he found himself staring at the falling snow. To make matters worse he had dragged Amaterasu down with him. "Ouch…" she muttered lifting her head up a couple of millimeters from his chest.

"You're heavy…" Riku whispered trying to sit up, but the girl didn't move for a while. "Amaterasu…" he poked her for a moment until she groggily moved to the side shaking her head for a moment. He flopped back down onto the snow covered ground and sighed looking at the world upside down.

"I thought I'd find you two here…" Lightning said walking towards the two fallen bodies. She looked at her surrounding area and smiled a bit looking at the different roses and other types of flowers growing in this cold weather. "I hope the two of you weren't planning on pollinating here."

Riku's face turned bright red against the color of the snow and his hair. Amaterasu sat up slightly laughing hysterically at the double meaning joke. The girl shook her head and couldn't find any air for her lungs. "I… can't…" she couldn't stop laughing. "Breathe…!" she said finally trying to clear her throat. She panted for a moment and looked back at Riku for a moment. "Why is your face all red?"

"It is?" he asked feeling his face turn crimson. "Forget it…" he said sitting up and looking down at the ground. '_Come on, just let me kiss her just once…_' he begged to all the gods in the world. But somehow they seemed to enjoy watching him fail at that one act. "Hey does this mean that King Mickey's ready to go back?" Riku asked looking back at Lightning.

The Heartless nodded and helped the two teens up. For some reason though Lightning held a rather sad expression that was plainly visible on her facial features. Amaterasu couldn't help but look at her for a moment and titled her head for a moment. "What's wrong?" the girl couldn't help but just ask her.

"King Mickey is asking for you to spy on Maleficent but we won't leave until midnight," Lightning whispered directly into Amaterasu's ear. The girl felt her eyes widen for a moment and looked back at Lightning with a look of pure disbelief. "He says it's better that someone from _our_ side stays behind to keep track of the enemies movements."

"But I thought we were all going back together…" Amaterasu said sadly watching Riku walk ahead of the two.

"I'll be staying with you, we'll depart from her forces once King Mickey has found a way to unlock the sphere's content. It shouldn't take that long." The Heartless said trying to lighten the spirits of the girl. "Do you want me to tell him?" she asked looking at the look on Amaterasu's face.

Amaterasu shook her head and sighed heavily for a moment. "You know it was nice while it lasted, being close with Riku again." The girl said watching a snowflake fall onto her boot. "I know that we'll see each other again, but it might be pretty long if Maleficent starts attacking the worlds again. You know who's going to have to do it." Amaterasu said motioning with her finger herself and Lightning. "You know I really hope Sora finishes with his training soon, so that way Riku won't be alone."

**A m a t e r a s u **

With the sphere finally in our grasp I thought things would be nice from here, maybe have _some_ good luck bless us in someway. I thought wrong though, as humans we just pray and hope only to have reality come crashing down on our little frail minds and bodies. Still I mean I'm doing this for a good cause, that's what I've been telling myself anyway.

I've spent time with Riku for a couple of months now, and I've learned a lot about him, no doubt he's learned a lot about me. He's still the same guy I know from the islands. He can be a bit hard on himself at times, but I'm like that with myself at times. '_He loves me…_' that's the only thing going through my mind at this point. Being away from him will probably tear my frail heart apart.

"Riku…" I finally was able to get him to stop. He turned around giving me that warm smile he always gives me. "Um… There's something I have to tell you…" I said shyly pulling him away from Lightning. She understood what I was going to do, so she didn't object to it at all.

"What is it?" he asked looking at me for a moment. I wonder if he can sense it in his heart. I can, I can somehow feel his heartbeat ring in my head, he's nervous about something. I pulled him along for a moment and just enjoyed walking around with him in the snow.

"I…" I can't bring myself to say it. I don't want to make him worry. I want to stay with him for a long time. I don't know how long I'm going to be gone for, but I can pray, I can hope that it won't be for a long time. "It's under King Mickey's orders." I said trying to figure out how to say it all at once. "I've been ordered to spy on Maleficent to notify and possibly stall her attacks as King Mickey tries to get the 'content' out of the sphere." I shook my head and looked down. "I don't want to leave… I feel like I just got here, and now I have to go!" I said shaking my head again. "I… I don't want to be away from you." I said looking up at him.

I hate goodbyes because it makes it seem like I won't see that person for a long time. I've never been good at giving goodbyes, and this one is by far the hardest I've had to do now. I want to scream and protest against it, but since I wasn't raised that way it's just foreign for me to do something like that.

'_I don't know when I'll get another chance though…_' I thought to myself looking at his turquoise eyes. They were filled with confusion for a moment and a small glint of despair. '_In times of war love is the thought furthest from the mind, and once it's over it becomes the first thing on the mind._' That was something the deceased Lucifer once said to me when I was 'younger'.

"When do you leave?" he asked taking my hand in his. I told him it was at midnight, and he sighed for a moment. "That only gives me a little time to prepare…" he said trying to get me to laugh a bit.

"Wait!" I said remembering why this sounded familiar. "I'm supposed to prepare, since it is _my_ leave."

**R i k u **

Why is destiny so cruel to people?

That's the same question I ask myself from time to time, and I've had a real good answer for that. I told her I love her, and it seemed like it'd be a good from there. Still I never should've thought that positively since I'd probably end up jinxing it or something. '_She leaves at _ _midnight__…_' that's the only thing that got through my head now.

"You have any idea one what you're going to do?" I asked her and she shook her head. It was like her, but I think the news was given to her on short notice.

"Sorry!" she said rubbing the back of her head for a moment. "Um… Let's just walk around the capital. From what you've told me it's a really good place to go to at night."

I nodded and the two of us kept on walking for a while. I never thought that the last sphere would be the thing that would keep us apart for a while. '_Just when we'd gotten through our other problems…_' I thought to myself when we stopped walking.

Lightning waited for us and she went ahead of us as we started to walk in her direction. She was taking us back to where King Mickey and the others were at. It was probably back to the gummi ship that King Mickey has under his possession.

"You know how long you'll be gone for?" I asked her and she said she didn't know. "I just hope you take care of yourself."

"I will…" she said looking back at me for a moment. "You take care of yourself too."

I smirked for a moment and kissed her cheek, it felt warm even with the cold weather. "Have I ever told you how good you look in a skirt?"

"Don't start with that again…" she said rolling her eyes. "I don't like skirts…"

"Then why do you wear them? You know jeans are fine… Nothing is good too…" I said watching the look on her face.

**Current Scene **

The Heartless heard an inhumane scream come from in back of her. She turned around quickly and all she could see was Amaterasu walking away. Riku on the other hand had seen better days as laid on his side clutching the injured body part cursing loudly due to the pain.

Still somehow this little act was able to make the Heartless laugh for a moment. They were able to take their minds off other things for just a moment, and it was worth it. '_Something tells me they're trying to make the most of it, somehow…_' Lightning thought for a moment and then saw Amaterasu help Riku up to his feet.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Riku asked letting Amaterasu help him to his feet.

"Something like that…" she said laughing at him. "But that was disgusting…" she said referring back to what he said.

"It was a joke…"

"Damn you'd better not tell your kids jokes like that." She said thinking about it for a moment. "In a way I was kinda saving your future wife from bearing your children."

**A/N: You know what to do _one_ review please! **


	34. Going Back

**A/N: Hey you guys, how have you all been? **

**I might not be able to make any updates for this upcoming week **(I'm in a school performance) **so that means I won't have time for updates like I normally do. **

Sorasheart281: **A Versus/Lightning pair you know I never thought of that. They will kiss one day, when, I'm not sure, it depends on Riku's luck. **

N.Neo: **I'm glad you like the romance between the two. Heh, yeah I accepted your invitation to the C2 Community. **

Dj Diddy Dog: **Thanks for the review, yeah that part was funny. **

WhiteWolfChickie: **Thanks for the review on chapter one, I'm glad you liked it! **

Side note, this chapter, and those later on are going to deal with romance/action, except for this one which just boarders on romance. We're almost reaching the end of the line here folks…

**On with the story! **

**Chapter 34: Going Back **

_"There's two hours left before __midnight__…" Amaterasu said dangling her feet from the gothic styled clock tower. She looked back at Riku who watched the night sky from this height. Everything seemed untouchable from up here. _

_"I know…" Riku said trying to forget that she was going to leave soon. Up here their problems seemed so little from when they were on the ground. "I remember once there was a clock tower in __London__…" he thought back to when he was on Captain Hook's ship. "It was sort of like this…" he said watching Amaterasu, then he looked around the view for a moment. _

_The two of them just sat there sipping this warm tea that the girl had bought earlier for the two of them. All they needed to say was almost said, and with time passing it didn't really help at all. Each word felt as though it were being pressured by time, there was almost no moment for them. _

_The girl sighed for a moment and sipped the content of her cup. Her eyes caught sight of a blinking star, and slowly it faded, signaling that the darkness had taken it over. 'One day stars won't go out…' she thought to herself and looking down at the ground below. 'But why do I feel like I'm just dreaming that it'll be like that? Why can't I be positive about it? I mean I'm hoping…' _

_She placed her free hand gently over the boy's hands and he responded with a slight flinch. He laughed a bit, not really expecting anything at all, and grasped her hand in return. "We'll meet up again some day." Riku said looking at her for a moment. "Besides since you are what you are… You're always going to keep finding me, no matter where I go. We're connected by our hearts, and our destiny…." _

_"Yeah, a horrible destiny." The girl said apathetically at the fact of what they both were. _

_"Amaterasu, come on listen…" Riku tried to plead with the girl about the whole deal, but somehow he found his mind wandering into that too. "You said so yourself we'll find a way, okay?" _

_"Yeah well I was just…" she paused for a moment and nodded taking those words into heart now. "We'll find a way, and when we do it'll be all right… 59 minutes left…" she said checking her cell phone from a small pocket located to the side of her outfit. _

_"You want to start heading into town now?" Riku asked hoping that she would shake her head, so that they could stay there for a while longer. She shook her head and said that they'd stay here for a little while longer. _

King Mickey walked up the steps that led into the clock tower. The steps were a bit narrow, but it was perfect for his majesty's size. '_We really should be leaving now…_' the king thought walking up into the clock tower. Gears were turning and little machines were humming, keeping the clock in perfect working order.

From what he remembered Amaterasu had told him that she was going to the clock tower last. Donald and Goofy were waiting for him outside the entrance to the clock tower. At last he finally made it past the noisy gears and big hour signals. He took a moment to look at the numbers on there, they were very well crafted. There from the last step he could see the lights from the city, and he took a moment to enjoy the sight before his eyes.

'_I haven't been back here ever since the Keyblade War…_' he thought back to that day when he first received Star Seeker, his very first weapon given to him by Yen Sid. King Mickey had arrived once the three Chasers had gone after the Dark Master. It was there he saw the heart shaped moon, known as 'Kingdom Hearts'. From what he knew the Dark Master had found a way to open it, and revealed its true form to the world.

The Chasers went after him and tried to put an end to his plans. He was going to use the power of the sacred moon to plunge the whole universe into darkness, but that plan of course failed, since he was now trapped within a sphere.

King Mickey walked around the little walkway that the clock tower provided and he saw two familiar people. For a moment it reminded King Mickey of two people he had met previously. '_Aquan and Another…_' the king thought thinking back to the first time he met those two individuals.

"Hey ya two!" Mickey called out in a friendly voice.

"Your Majesty!" Amaterasu said joyfully. "Are we late?" she asked biting her lower lip for a moment. He didn't really want to say that they were late, but he had to.

"I hope I wasn't interrupting anything," the royal mouse noticed that the two of them laughed nervously, but they both shook their heads. "We're sort of late, but…"

"Sorry…" Amaterasu said standing up and bowing slightly. "It was my fault we're a bit late, I wanted to stay here a while longer…" she said watching Riku stand up now. "We really should get going then, I mean I don't want to throw you off schedule."

"I trust you understand your mission?" he asked her as they all walked back down to the city's ground.

"Yes, sir!" she said nodding slightly. "While Lightning and I are there, do you want us to get the other sphere's she has?" the king nodded and the girl made a mental note of that as well. They all walked down the steps past the noisy gears and managed to make it outside in a very quiet and orderly fashion.

"Heya two!" Goofy said looking back into the entrance, he waved at the two younger looking people. The two of them waved back and the shield soldier laughed in his simple manner.

"Hey!" the mage said in his own manner. Donald waved at the two and Amaterasu picked up the duck and hugged him for a moment before Donald ran out of air.

"How late are we?" Amaterasu asked looking at the back of the King's head.

"About twenty minutes late…" and with that the two teens laughed nervously. "I know you two are going to miss each other, but we can't let this ruin our plans too. It's better we do work before pleasure, do you understand?"

"Yes sir." The two said in a respectful tone to the King of Disney Castle. Amaterasu looked back at Riku and smiled at him, and he did in return. "King Mickey…" Amaterasu paused for a moment as they walked through the city. King Mickey turned around and looked up at the girl. "The Keyblade War, you were there weren't you?" she asked in a timid manner.

He nodded and continued walking, "But I don't know why you asked, Ansem the Wise already told you a long time ago…" King Mickey said pausing for a moment. "Well I don't remember much about it myself, I mean I was still just a kid back then." The king said jokingly. "It's in one of the memory spheres."

"It's probably in Maleficent's pile." The girl said looking up at the night sky for an answer of some sort. "I'll just bring it back with the others then."

"Keyblade War?" Riku couldn't help but ask. The other two individuals stopped and looked at Riku for a moment, and then back at him. Amaterasu scratched the back of her head and smiled nervously.

"It's kinda hard to explain…" she said resting her arms on top of her head. "There are a lot of versions written in ancient text, and not all of them are creditable. And I've come across of _a lot_ of them over the years," she paused for a moment and then started walking alongside the turquoise eyed teen. "But anyway, from what I know, because of Ansem the Wise, was that King Mickey here," she looked at the royal mouse, "was part of it too, but I don't remember a lot of the details, I mean I was still just a kid when he came to visit our world, that's why he knew so much about the Keyblade. Yeah," the five of them kept walking down the sidewalk as the night still filled their senses. "Once I come back, I'll show you the memory sphere of the Keyblade War because I have feeling Maleficent might have it."

"That was WAAYYYYY before we knew the king." Goofy said using his hands to describe the length of time. "Back when he was still causing trouble as Yen Sid's student."

King Mickey laughed recalling once how he had started to flood one room with a possessed broom that turned into a hundred water caring brooms. "Hey, we're almost there!" Mickey said pointing to the gummi ship that was still quite a couple of miles away.

"Hey come on, Riku, let's go!" Amaterasu said pulling the Keyblade wielder's hand. The two of them started to run back to the ship leaving King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy behind.

"You really think this is a good idea?" Donald asked King Mickey.

The king nodded, "Just trust me on this Donald. Amaterasu still hasn't adjusted to this era yet, darkness still eats away at her heart. I think it's better that she stays with Maleficent for a while."

"Don't tell me you're just gonna leave her there?" Goofy asked worriedly. He didn't want the girl to be all alone. King Mickey shook his head, that wasn't his style, to leave a friend like that.

"Like that flower, the one in her hair. It'll slowly die if it's taken away from its environment. Up until a while ago the lock on her heart returned, but that was because of what Versus did. If she's out of her 'comfort zone'," this being the darkness, "she'll react in the only way she can, by breaking the lock, and then just wait. I don't want her to do that, and I know she doesn't want that to happen. Besides she still has a promise to keep."

"You mean with that memory sphere?" Donald asked. The King nodded. "You never did tell us what was in it."

"The Keyblade War…" the king said waking alongside his two trusted individuals. "I want to remember what that was like, it's fuzzy now."

"Aw, you're just getting old King Mickey." Goofy said looking down at his good friend the King."

"Gee _thanks_ Goofy." The royal mouse said laughing at his taller friend.

Lightning watched from outside, noticing the two people running towards the ship. In the distance she could see the King and that was her cue to start the gummi ship. She went back into the flying transportation and went into the cockpit. She noticed several lights blinking signaling fuel and the engines. '_Everything seems stable…_' she thought going through the readings that appeared on the screen.

She walked back once she heard the engines roar as the fuel combusted into flames, and the gears started to move into motion. "Sit tight you." The Heartless said looking back at Gabriel.

"Where the hell are we going to go with chains on us, Heartless?" Gabriel asked cocking his head to the side for a moment. The Heartless threw a cold gaze at him and Gabriel growled at her for a moment.

"You know I should just take your heart right now." Lightning said pulling her weapon from the violin case that sat on one of the seats. "But then that would be an insult to the Heartless if I turned you into one of them." The tip of her weapon loomed dangerously close to his neck, at the very vital area. Her urge to just rip his heart out was a bit stronger than usual but she was able to fight the Heartless nature back.

"Just dispose of him for all I care…" Yomigami said walking back from the upper deck of the gummi ship. King Mickey had taken the chains off of him as well, but Gabriel was the only one "Amaterasu probably won't mind." He sighed and looked out the window from the ship. He noticed that all five of the other people were starting to walk closer to the ship now. "I'll just get rid of him while you guys are gone."

"She's not going to be happy with that though." The Heartless said thinking back to how her 'client' worked. She placed her weapon back down as the door the inside of the ship made a loud _swish_ sound.

"We're leaving now." King Mickey said looking at the three people within his view.

**An hour into the voyage **

"How long till we reach Radiant Garden?" Amaterasu asked looking at Lightning. The Heartless sat next to her. For some reason the Heartless looked a bit distant today. "Hey, Lightning, are you upset or something?" she asked noticing the Heartless respond to that question.

"Something like that, Amaterasu." The Heartless said still fuming at the fact she could've ended Gabriel's life. "But don't worry." She said in a rather soft tone. "Anyway it'll take us a while before we get there. Probably about two days, so don't worry about it. You have time to spend with him."

"I really hate goodbyes." The girl said rubbing the side of her head. The pressure of it all was starting to get to her, somehow making her feel a bit sick. The back of her head was pounding a bit for a moment, but it soon went away. "Oh, yeah," she remembered a little event that had taken place a while before they actually left Sunset Horizon. "What did Versus tell you?"

"Versus…?" Lightning broke out of her daze for a moment thinking back to what had happened an hour ago. "Oh, that…" the girl looked at the Heartless with a confused gaze, and it made the Heartless a bit uneasy now, "Don't look at me like that."

"Something happened between the two of you, so spill it!" the girl said feeling full of life now. She smiled and leaned out of her seat ready to give her full attention to Lightning. "Come on…" Amaterasu said starting to whine a bit. "Please?"

"You're begging." Lightning said confused by her action now. One moment she was upset, feeling almost physically sick, and now she seemed a bit bouncy, acting really curious. "Why do you want to know, Amaterasu?" the Heartless asked curiously. The girl didn't really give her a definite answer. "I don't think that's a good enough answer."

"Just because… I'm your good friend." The girl said a bit confused, but other than that it seemed like a good answer. "So please?" she asked again putting her hands together.

"When we get there…" was all the Heartless said. Amaterasu protested again, but she had spoken. "Or I won't tell you at all." She said sternly, and Amaterasu sat back down grumbling under her breath. "You know you should take some time to talk to your brother, we don't know how long we'll be gone for." With that the girl took off the seatbelt and walked over to the back row of the seats within the ship, locating her brother.

"Hey…" she said weakly looking at her brother. He seemed lost in thought, staring out into the dark abyss of space. "How have you been?" she asked plopping down on the seat next to him.

Yomigami chuckled and patted his sister on the head. "I've been all right." He said looking at her for a moment. "It's just you and me now, kid." The girl looked down and didn't move for a while. "**_Prosapia mos subsisto vobis exaro terminus of vicis_**."

"Family will stay with you till the end of time…" Amaterasu said looking back at her older brother. "It doesn't feel like that anymore." She said looking at the slight hurt etched on her brother's feature. "But I mean we'll see them again someday. The heart doesn't really die, its just transfers to a new life. **_Vita est rotundus_**," which meant 'life is round'.

It means life is like a cycle, and a cycle goes around in a circle meaning that it is round. It was something Ansem the Wise had once told them a long time ago, when they studied under him. It had been a while since either one of them had heard the little saying. Their Latin was a bit rusty, but they could remember how to say a couple of phrases. Yomigami agreed with the little saying and just stayed quiet for a couple of seconds.

"We're going to Twilight Town when we drop you off at Radiant Garden. You're to go straight to Maleficent's hideout." He said instructing his younger sibling. "And be careful, you'll have to be crafty again, no one is going to be with you."

"That's where you're wrong, I have Lightning with me." She said sounding a bit pleased with that fact. "I'll be fine, besides the heart keeps us all tied together, so don't worry, Brother."

"All right," Yomigami said displaying his affection with a slight noogie to the head. Amaterasu protested trying to wriggle out of the chair, laughing slightly. "Anything new you want to tell me?" she shook her head and he sighed for a moment letting his grip relax. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." She said looking back at him. He didn't believe her one bit. "I'm telling the truth, really…" he still wasn't buying it. "really." She said again, this time trying to con it off.

"It's all right if you like him, I 'm not going to get mad." He noticed the blush on his sister's face. "I knew it. Well I can't really stop the heart, still I mean, it's a bit weird him being the **_atrum keyblade vinco_**." What he meant, was that he still didn't like the idea of Riku being the Dark Keyblade Master.

"Oh hey, Sora's in Twilight Town, isn't he?" Amaterasu asked thinking back to the Keyblade's 'Chosen One'. "You know I hope it doesn't take him that long to finish his training, but knowing Yen Sid he's really tough. Sora's probably getting his ass kicked."

"Our fate rests in the hand of a 16 year old." Yomigami said not really sounding that pleased with the outcome. "You know sometimes I wish Riku did pick the light, and then maybe we'd have some peace for a while longer."

"**_Ut est vita_**," the two of them said sighing heavily and looking down for a moment. It meant 'that is life'. "Oh yeah!" Amaterasu remembered something, "you are right we have made too many promises." She said referring to the other promise she had made to the king. "The sphere, the one with the Keyblade War."

"Out of all the promises, you forgot that one?" her brother asked in a rather serious tone. She nodded and apologized. "Well…"

"I mean I'm getting old, we're getting old." She said including her brother this time. "Ok, so I mean we don't age, but I mean come on we're _old_."

"I get it." Yomigami said laughing for a moment. "How is the Heart…? I mean Lightning."

"She's doing fine. I'm really beginning to think it is almost possible to give her a heart."

"_Almost_ possible?" Yomigami couldn't help but reiterate the last couple of words she just said. "You telling me you can't really give a heart to one of the Heartless?"

"I mean… Remember those old reports we found in the World that Never Was? That man Axel, he was able to awaken his heart, and he was a Nobody. I don't know if it works on Heartless."

"That document wasn't filed in any of the reports, so we can't really use it for creditability. You know that." Yomigami said thinking back to the report. "Besides remember deception born of ignorance. If you do think like that…"

"I know I'll be just like Xehanort and go all crazy trying to rule the world with supreme darkness."

"I was just going to say you would go fanatical, but that's good too." Yomigami said looking at his sister with a bit of confusion. "Ah, yeah…" Yomigami reached down into his pant's pocket and pulled out a little bracelet. It had a small Heartless emblem on it. "It's the Shadow Hound's summoning amulet."

"So you found the dog…" she said laughing looking at the bracelet. "You know I still haven't figured out where they come from."

"Should be obvious where they're from, the End of the World." Yomigami said thinking back to where all the worlds fallen in darkness end up in. "You never did pay attention to King Ansem's lectures."

"Yeah well I was tired when we'd finally stop walking up all those stairs." She said remembering the fact that his study sessions were located in the west hall, about ten floors above the research facility that Hojo had back when it was still the Radiant Garden Castle. She placed the amulet on her arm for a moment and then paused. "Hey give it to Sora he needs it more than I do. I've got the Heartless on my side for now, so it's no big deal, but our little friend here is going to need all the help he can get, you know?"

"He's going to have Riku's help."

"Yeah but can Riku rip the limbs off of a human in less than ten seconds?"

"You're missing the point, Sister." Yomigami said smacking her upside the head. She growled and rubbed her head gently.

**R i k u **

It'll take probably two days or so before we reach Radiant Garden, and then we'll be off again. I mean I know it wasn't going to be easy but still can't we just take a break once in a while? '_I just took one a couple of hours ago…_' that's the only thing that came into my mind.

"**_Lux lucis procedo_**…" that was Amaterasu's voice.

I looked in the back row and noticed she was singing something like a children's rhyme of some sort.

"**_Obscurum progredior_**," she moved her head side to side while her brother shook his head smiling for a moment. "**_Permissum dies floccipendo_**, you want to know what I'm saying, Riku?" her head rested on the seat in front of her.

"It would be nice." I said in this little upbeat tone.

"You know Latin?" she asked and excused herself from her brother and made it over to the front row. She sat down next to me. "Okay… I said 'light come out, darkness go out, let the day take the light,' something like that, but anyway it's been a while since I spoke it."

"Hmm… All right then how do you say this?" I whispered it in to her ear and she smiled a bit.

"That's going to be a bit harder… I'll try and give you a good translation." She sighed and spelled invisible words in the air and paused halfway through a word. "Oh, I think it's um… **_Basium mihi hic quod habitum meus manus_**, which means, 'kiss me here and hold my hand'. And no I'm not going to, Riku."

She figured me out, but I mean it wouldn't be fun if she wasn't being herself. "Still…" I said noticing her smile again. "You know you want to," I said whispering it into her ear. I heard her laugh in a soft tone and she looked at me directly in the eyes.

"I'm not really going to say anything about that." She said looking around the area for a moment. Amaterasu sighed for a moment and rested her head for a moment on my shoulder. "I really wish I could take you with me, Riku." She meant everywhere word of it too.

"I know…" I whispered kissing the top of her head. She sighed contently and pressed her body against mine. "So I'm a human pillow now?" I asked. Amaterasu laughed in response at that question.

"If you say you are." She said closing her eyes for a moment. Amaterasu muttered something that I couldn't hear. "Stay like this with me, until I leave." She asked me in the same soft tone. She sounded nervous for a moment. "Please…" she asked again holding on tight to me.

"Don't worry…" I said in my own tone, and she relaxed for a while. "Now I'm banging on the door of an angel/The end of fear is where we begin/The moment we decided to let love in…" I carried out the little melody.

She had sang it once back on the islands once when we were getting to know one another. Her breath tickled the side of my neck as she whispered something. I loved feeling this close to her, it just made me feel complete, but I know that it wouldn't last for that long, so I'd have to learn to keep hoping for moments like this.

"Let love in…" she said happily nudging her head against my neck for a moment. "I haven't heard that song in a long time." Amaterasu said in a slightly distant voice. She was probably thinking back to those first weeks we had getting to know one another.

I missed those days, but in a way I'm thanking the present since we've gotten to grow that close to one another. '_The darkness… I never thought it'd be the thing that brought us together, well sort of anyway._' I thought to myself thinking back to various little issues we faced together.

**A m a t e r a s u **

It was the day after we boarded the gummi ship. I noticed the King and Donald, and Goofy sleeping on these little seats. The ship had been set to autopilot, so it was being guided by the designated course set by King Mickey. From the outside I could see the sun shine brightly, but still everything was covered in the vast darkness of space. I knew it was morning, but outside it didn't look like it at all.

My hand ran through my hair, and it stopped short when I felt this strange item lightly graze my fingertip. I pulled it out from my hair, and noticed the blue petals around the flower. '_The blue rose…_' I thought to myself thinking back to yesterday. I was still amazed that nothing had changed from it at all. The petals still looked fresh, and the change in environment didn't seem to affect it, for now at least.

Riku was still dead to the world, leaning his body against the side wall of the ship. I had been using him for a human cushion and he didn't seem to mind. He had his arm around me, so that I wouldn't lean forward or anything like that. Everyone else was in deep slumber. Yomigami leaned against the side wall, and Lightning had her body elegantly spread out against the neighboring seats of the ship. Gabriel was sitting somewhere in the back snoring lightly.

I nestled against him and sighed again in content at the warmth I felt from being next to him like that. '_Enjoy it while it lasts…_' that's the thing that went through my mind. Even the darkness in my heart would say that. It probably feels sympathy for me, but I don't know if darkness can do that. The silver haired teen groaned slightly shifting his body slightly, to get a bit more comfortable. I closed my eyes and relaxed for a while, letting the minutes pass by.

A lot of things ran through my head, what would I do next? Where would I go once I go back? How could I help the others against the darkness? Would I see Riku soon? When? Why was all of this happening? A lot of questions that would be answered with time, and I have all the time in the world, according to Riku and to many other people who know me.

And about time, what ever happened to the people I met when I was young? I still wonder from time to time if they're still alive, and if they remember me. They probably do from time to time, but that's in all probability once in a while.

"Amaterasu…" I heard Riku speak softly in his sleep. "I love you…" I just wanted to feel sentimental for that moment. His voice, I was going to miss it terribly. Not because I'm his friend, but because he means much more to me, as I do to him. "Don't go yet…" and with that he continued with his sleep.

"Morning…" I whispered resting a hand on his arm.

Riku's turquoise eyes appeared slowly and he looked back at me for a moment with a confused gaze. "Amaterasu…?" he said, or rather he asked if it was me.

"I hope you didn't think I was someone else." I said in a soft tone of my own, I was laughing for a moment. "Did you sleep well?"

"Next to you, who wouldn't?" he asked, his brain finally waking up.

"I can name a couple of people…" I said jokingly, resting my head on his shoulder for a while. "Ah, yeah listen do you want to go with me to the upper deck?"

"There isn't anything there except for a couple of windows…" he said sitting up slightly. "Oh I get you… Privacy." Riku said thinking about it some more for a moment or two.

It took awhile after stretching and yawning, but somehow the two of us ended up making it up to the second floor deck, without waking anyone up. From the second floor the stars were in full view and the sun was off to the side, several planets moved about, beginning their new day. From this view it seemed that nothing could disrupt us, nothing could touch us but time.

"It's quiet up here." Riku said looking around the room. It was fairly small, but the view from there made up for the lacking room space. "And the view's good." We walked around the area and sat up against one of the empty walls of the second floor. Riku sat in back of me, and I used him against as a pillow.

"Since I'm going back…" I started to say what I wanted to say. "I want to tell you this, even if we might see each other once in while. I love you, Riku." I felt his arms wrap around my waist.

"I'm not letting you go…" he whispered burying his head on my back. "I don't want to let you leave… Not yet."

"We both know it's not that simple…"

**A/N: You know what to do _one_ review please!**


	35. Viscus pectoris addo prosterno

**A/N: It's another chapter you guys, and well I feel bad since I won't be able to update for a while, so I want to give you another added bonus! **

Xejicka: **Thank you so much for the review! I love your story too. Romantic and tragic, never thought my fanfiction would be like that. **

N.Neo:** Yeah it took her a long time to tell him… **

Sorasheart281: **I really hope you don't cry for this chapter. **

**I appreciate al the reviews and hits you guys so thank you! **

**On with the story! **

**Chapter 35: Viscus pectoris addo prosterno/Tripudio of Carus **(heart brings ruin/dance of the beloveds)

"I love you…" Amaterasu whispered watching the gummi ship out of view. Lightning sighed sadly watching her 'client' in emotional pain. They finally made it to their destination, and the gummi ship left for Twilight Town. The girl held on tight to the necklace around her neck, and tried hard not to become an emotional wreckage or tears and fists hitting the ground.

_"Take this…" she said holding the amulet close to Riku's heart. "I want you to give it to Sora, please. He needs this more than I do." _

_The boy took it and couldn't say anything for the moment. "I'll make sure to give it to him, so don't worry." The girl nodded and kissed the side of his cheek. "For some reason I can feel the end of our journey, it's coming soon…" _

_"Do you know what's going to happen?" the girl asked looking him in the eyes. The teen shook his head. "One can only pray that light will be waiting for us at the end." _

_"The Heartless in my heart, says only that the heart will bring ruin… I guess we shape our destiny due to our actions…" _

_"My heart says that too…" the girl responded in a soft and sad tone. She placed his hand on her heart and closed her eyes for a moment. "I'm sure our hearts can communicate without words, so don't worry about us being apart." _

_Somehow the girl had peered in his own heart, trying to comfort him about the distance. Riku felt his body relax for a moment, feeling the beating of her heart, as it radiated through his fingertips, awakening his senses. "I know you want to get rid of the darkness in your heart… I know you're afraid of losing control, that's why you didn't want to fall in love for so long. But…" she looked up at Riku once again. "It's ok, I'll be here to help you. I want to keep you safe, even if I can't be there for you physically." _

_"You've done more than enough, Amaterasu." The silver haired teen said softly. He hugged her once again. He didn't want her to leave, not when she finally told him those words. "It's not enough, is it?" _

_"No…" she said feeling tears fall on her shirt. "I want more time… Maybe I should've told you earlier. I should've told you earlier…" _

_"I'm glad you told me though." He said smiling for a moment. Amaterasu nodded and looked back up at him. _

_"Ah… Listen can you take care of the flower for me? Please…" she asked removing the flower carefully from her hair. "I don't want to damage it." _

Amaterasu and Lightning looked over the city, watching little cottages and cement buildings, resident areas, and the construction of the new Radiant Garden Castle. The two of them watched the view once more, before jumping down to the little opening underneath them. Lightning landed with ease using her quick reflexes to catch herself from losing her footing. Amaterasu needed a little help, which the Heartless was happy to provide.

The two of them landed in the opening, filled with trees. This was a rather depressing forest; bare trees were before their vision. They looked back up at the cliff they jumped; it was hard to believe they jumped from that height. Ahead of the road it led to the ruin of the old castle, which was their designation. '_Take care you guys…_' Amaterasu thought running after Lightning as they headed down the beaten dirt path.

The sun was starting to hit their backs as the afternoon was starting to beat on them. The sounds of crows taking flight captivated Amaterasu as she looked back for a moment. The _caws_ brought back a feeling of homesickness within in her heart. When she was younger she believed the black feathered birds brought her good fortune. She wondered if they would bring her good fortune once a gain.

The girl noticed that the scarf still went around the Heartless' neck. Somehow she found sentimental attachment to the piece of clothing. It reminded her of something else. "What did he tell you, Lightning?" Amaterasu asked hearing the word 'versus' pop into her mind.

"Ha…" Lightning and her ran side by side now. She did promise the girl she would tell. "I suppose I should tell you." Amaterasu smiled enjoying the run back to the hideout. "He… It's hard to say really."

Amaterasu looked back at her for a moment and shook her head. "You have to say it." Lightning really couldn't shake her off the topic, and she had no choice but to give in and tell her.

"He invited me to go and visit." Lightning said looking down at the dirt path as they ran away from the civilized area. "I don't know if I should, it's not really my position. Heartless don't just _go_ and _visit_."

"He likes you."

Lightning slowed her pace down and looked at Amaterasu. The girl had a strong emotional IQ when it came to stuff like that, but when it pertained to her she became so clueless. The Heartless began to fidget with the crimson scarf and felt a bit out of order; her nature prevented her from feeling such emotions like 'love'.

"Maybe he does…" the Heartless said feeling indifferent if the heir really did or did not.

The two of them continued their run down the path to Maleficent. Amaterasu had formulated a lie to tell her, saying Gabriel let himself be captured so that he could retrieve the last sphere King Mickey gained. Riku on the other hand, she would have to say was spying on them, that's the only thing that Maleficent could register into her mind.

"Did you tell him?" the Heartless asked thinking back to Riku for a moment. Amaterasu nodded as they slowed down from their run. "It's about time." The Heartless said now walking down the path. "Remember though; don't let this ruin your momentum on the mission."

"I know." The girl said simply walking alongside her companion. "After all I know you want a heart, so yeah."

They stopped short coming to a gap, as the road ended in a big ravine. Before their colored eyes they saw the ruins looming over the area. Amaterasu remembered the ruins back when they were called 'the castle'. Every touch of the ruins pained her, she had spent many wonderful days within the walls of that castle.

"Let's go." Lightning said standing on top of a broken column. Amaterasu sighed for a moment and jumped into the air, catching herself to balance on the broken beam near the column.

The girl ran forward letting the wind carry her for a second until gravity brought her down. The dirt kicked up as she landed on her feet, and Lightning leaped into the air, skidding to a halt as she ended up in the ground, right next to Amaterasu. Her blue eyes scanned the area, everything seemed so peaceful.

The crows cawed again and the two of them looked up watching feathers fall down to the ground, hovering for seconds as the wind decided to extend their trajectory. Amaterasu grabbed a couple of them before they hit the ground. "I want to do something with the feathers." She said stuffing the feathers into her blue jean pockets.

Lightning didn't ask what her 'client' wanted to do with the feathers, it was best left to the imagination. Somehow the Heartless thought that she would find a good use for the feathers, and so she didn't doubt Amaterasu with her creativity.

"All right." Lightning said picking up the pace as they started to run towards the bigger ruins of the once proud castle of the old Radiant Garden. The girl followed behind noticing the crows fly in their direction.

Amaterasu smiled for a moment looking up at the crows, somehow luck would be on her side. They stopped after a couple of minutes of running down to their destination. The castle doors in their old and faded glory stood before them. The girl walked forward and paused for a moment feeling Lightning place a reassuring pat on her shoulder.

After opening the doors, and walking through the depressing ruins of the structure inside, they made it to one of the top floor rooms. "Maleficent?" The girl called out, her voice echoed through the empty halls. "Pete?" she called out the other helper's name.

"That you, Amaterasu?" the oaf called Pete asked appearing from the hallway. "Whatcha doing back here?"

"We've sort of failed our mission…" the girl said displaying her lie, with a dash of truth to it, to make it sound believable. "Is Maleficent here?" Amaterasu asked.

"Nope…" Pete said sounding relived for a moment. "She's left to Twilight Town a while ago. Probably to teach the Sora kid a lesson."

"You don't say?" Lightning asked hoping that the witch would fall.

**Twilight** **Town**

"Heartless!" Donald shouted as they made it to the train station.

Goofy hurled his shield to a couple of their enemies. King Mickey and Riku stood back to back in an attack stance. As soon as one Heartless moved Riku and King Mickey lunged forward, the strength of their hearts measured through the attacks placed on their Keyblade.

Riku placed his right foot on the ground and kicked off a Heartless with the other. Another enemy jumped into the air, and the Keyblade blocked off the attack, and he cut the body in to two pieces watching it slump to the floor. '_You know you want the darkness to take over…_' something ran in his head. The barrier on his heart wanted to shatter again, he could feel the scent of the Heartless get to him.

Donald shouted various spells protecting his duckish looking frame from the attacks of the fiends. Another shield attack went airborne and Donald was safe for now as Goofy pushed off a couple of Heartless. Mickey jumped into the air zipping past claws, and razor sharp teeth. When his foot touched the ground he pushed himself forward, destroying five Heartless in his path.

The Heartless begged for release for a moment or two from Riku's heart. Riku twisted in the air dodging severe blows from the oncoming attacks. He spun his Keyblade to the right tossing a Heartless on another Heartless. The scent was starting to subside, but Riku knew the urge would come back. '_Let's just get this over with really quick…_' he begged his heart. Xehanort's Heartless wasn't going to let that happen, not until Riku got another taste of his Heartless' side. Riku could feel his insides twist as Xehanort found a way to plunge into his heart.

The Heartless stopped for a moment and noticed that a deep darkness within the boy's heart was beginning to rip open into his somewhat frail heart. The Heartless growled in reaction the darkness beginning to wrap around the silver haired teen's body.

"Your Majesty!" Donald and Goofy said in unison noticing Riku yell. The King watched in horror as Xehanort's Heartless took control of his heart.

'_NO!_' Riku thought to himself stepping out of the dark void. '_STOP!_' the Heartless within him wasn't making it easy. Before he knew it the darkness gave his body a new shape, that into a human looking Heartless. Claws as black as night, light the body of a Heartless. The Heartless emblem on his chest, and bat like wings on his back, his eyes turned into a deep color of amber.

He attacked wildly at the surrounding Heartless. "Riku!" the three yelled, watching with each step as the boy struggled to right off the dark influence. It was now use his heart was not able to hear the call of the King and the royal mage and knight. The head of a Heartless landed at the King's feet, and it disappeared.

Other Heartless began to whimper and growl in fear for once, watching the violet way that their fellow beings suffered under the hands of the boy. Riku stopped his body, and clutched the side of his head. "STOP!" he let out a blood-curdling yell, feeling his heart rip in half. '_Face it boy, you can't go back!_' Xehanort's Heartless said feeling himself gain the upper hand. '_She can't save you, no one can!_'

"Not true…" Riku struggled to speak feeling the immense pain from within his body. The other called out to him, but he could barely hear their words now. "Stop it… Stop…" he begged falling to his knees. The darkness didn't let go, nor did it feel pity.

King Mickey destroyed the Heartless around the possessed boy, and Donald and Goofy attacked the Heartless that moved towards Riku. '_Sora… Kairi… Amaterasu…_' those names echoed across Riku's mind. '_Help me…_' he begged hearing the Heartless shout demeaning words now. '_You'd think they'd want to help a monster like you?!_' the Heartless rebutted.

_Riku…_

Riku let out a loud roar, the whole station echoed with the Heartless' roar. More Heartless trembled before the awesome power behind the emotion of it all. He breathed heavily, his eyes glimmering with the intent to kill the Heartless around him. He stood up this time, and brought his clawed hands close to his side. His pink tongue licked his black lips, and when he smiled before the Heartless fangs neatly conquered his pearly whites.

_I love you, Riku…_

The arm of Heartless felt the fangs of the boy, and several Heartless jumped forward, but he used his new found speed and tossed the other Heartless to the side, like a rag. Another Heartless felt the claws pierce its stomach, and Riku grinned tossing the deceased Heartless to the side. The King didn't even try to step in; he knew that if he did Riku would most likely bring him down, without a doubt.

_I'm sure our hearts can communicate without words, so don't worry about us being apart… _

'_That voice…_' the very sanity from Riku's mind spoke out in the chaos and pain raging within the boy's body. For a spilt second the amber eyes shifted to turquoise, but it lasted for only a second. '_Amaterasu?!_' his mind wanted to hear her voice just once more. His body stopped the violent assault on the Heartless, trying to find the source of the voice.

His voice became raspy, and just growls could be heard.

"Riku." Someone called out.

'_Is that you?_' the boy asked within his mind, he couldn't see that well now. Everything was dark through his eyes.

_Come back to me Riku!_

'_How can I?_' the mind asked again. Still no answer and he was left to find the light within the chaos. '_Enough!_' his mind yelled finding the entrance to his heart once more. '_ENOUGH!_' his Keyblade began to glow as he stepped into the frame of his chaotic heart.

From outside his body stopped clutching the side of his head, hitting the wall. The Heartless didn't want the control to be broken, not when he finally had the boy under his grasp. King Mickey didn't dare to move now, fearing for his own heart. Turquoise eyes appeared in place of the amber eyes', contrasting his exterior, still his body was in a Heartless like ensemble.

"Sora…! Kairi…! Amaterasu…!" the boy yelled to the twilight sky. His heart began to react to the names coming out from the black colored lips. '_NO!_' the Heartless yelled feeling his grip slip through his fingers. "Sora…! Kairi…! Amaterasu…!"

The Heartless wings grew on his back, twisting into a new shape, raven black feathers sprung forth, but soon they became a leathery type, sinister like bat wings. Riku took control of his Heartless form once again, the turquoise eyes signaled the sign of self overcome. Riku panted feeling his hands connect with the brick floors of the train station. He blinked for a moment noticing his body covered completely in black.

"King Mickey…?" Riku managed to croak out looking at the royal mouse.

"Riku…" the king said deeply worried for his young friend. All three of them walked over to the boy in his new form. "You…" the royal figure was at a loss for words, he couldn't even begin to describe the event, it seemed to happen so fast.

_I want to keep you safe…_

Amaterasu's voice filled the mind of the boy, as he looked up at the twilight sky once more. '_Our hearts… did you sense my pain?_' he asked his mind, hoping somehow that it would reach her. Riku stood up, not really getting use to the way his body reacted with Heartless like reflexes. He opened his mouth, and then using his tongue to feel the new fangs adorning his regular teeth.

"Woah…" he said, and stopped quickly, he bit his tongue. He cursed loudly stomping his foot in pain to the blood running down the side of his mouth.

"Riku…" King Mickey said looking back at him. "How… How do you feel?"

"Never better, in fact I feel great!" Riku said looking in back of him, noticing the black leathery wings that twitched for a moment. "Let's get going!" he said feeling a great power surge around him.

"Just be careful." The King advised still feeling a bit precautious about the whole sudden change in his character.

"I'll meet you over there!" Riku said disappearing through a black portal.

"Riku, wait…!"

It was too late the boy had already taken his step into the portal. Within a matter of moments Riku appeared before a strange looking tower, this was where Sora was at, training with Yen Sid. He noticed Sora running towards him right away, and his whole mind went blank. '_Sora…_'

"sora!" Riku said waving his hand slightly. The brunette stopped quickly and titled his head in confusion.

"You can talk?" Sora asked. "You sound just like Riku…"

"I am Riku, you bum!" the boy said shaking his head.

Something in Sora's heart told him that he was telling the truth. He walked forward for a moment, but stopped short hearing something like an explosion in back of him. The two of them looked back as the wall from the tower broke off, revealing a dragon of magnificent size shot green flames.

"Maleficent!" the boys yelled out looking at one another. Sora blinked for a moment trying to register in his mind that this Heartless was Riku. "What the heck happened to you?"

"Too long to explain…" Riku said pulling out his Keyblade. "Where's Kairi?" he asked looking at Sora hoping he had good news.

The black dragon fell to the side, as ice covered the snout of the purple and black scaled beast called Maleficent. Kairi appeared quickly from the ruin, and with her was the sight of a blonde female. The dragon broke the ice from its snout and Kairi and Naminé jumped back avoiding the green flames. "Let's go!" Sora said pulling out his Keyblade. At that point Roxas materialized from his heart, and he brought out both Oblivion and Oathkeeper.

Yen Sid's training had paid off, letting Sora master his Nobody form, to either letting it posses him, or to mentally project him into his reality. This was a step that the Dark Keyblade master once did; Yen Sid had been his teacher at one point.

"Don't just stand there!" Roxas yelled looking back at Riku. "Move!"

The dragon roared bearing its green flames around Kairi and Naminé. Sora and Roxas used Blizzard spells to control the green conflagration. "Riku!" the two girls called out happily noticing the Heartless move about. Their hearts allowed them to see Riku's real appearance shine through for a moment.

"Look out!" Roxas yelled pushing Naminé and Kairi out of the way. The dragon swished its tail in their direction. Roxas flew through the air, and Riku caught him. Sora ran forward with a sudden burst of speed. He jumped on the tail, and with more confidence used Ultima Weapon to bash the head of the dragon.

"Insolent pests!" the dragon managed to say, shooting an array of green flames. They started to zoom around the girls and Riku. Sora growled for a moment, and looked back. Riku used his Keyblade to throw the flames back to the beast, and Naminé mimicked the boy's attack with her magic. Kairi used another ice spell, and when all was set Sora began his assault on the head. Roxas came back into view and the two of them did a tag team attack, displaying fancy swordsmanship. Roxas used a sort of mid-air Nobody attack, that constricted the dragon to one area, without moving around, black, grey, and white jagged lines pierce through the beast's heart. Sora used the reaction attack from his previous fight with the dragon.

The dragon cried out in pain as Sora was about to deliver the final blow.

"Riku!" Sora yelled, Riku hurled his Keyblade to the boy, and with an elegant akimbo combination he threw the witch into the air, with a bone breaking attack to the mid-section of the back, then with the other blade he brought her down to the ground. Sora landed back on the ground panting for a moment. "You had enough?" he asked her. Maleficent didn't move, which meant that she seemed to be down for the count. Green flames covered her body and all that remained now was her black cloak.

"We did it!" the girls squealed jumping up and down. Naminé took both of Roxas' hands and jumped up and down in triumph. "That was amazing!" the blond witch said kissing Roxas on the lips lightly, and Sora on the cheek. Kairi congratulated Sora with a light kiss on his lips, and she laughed slightly.

Riku sighed heavily feeling everything at peace now. The four of them looked back at their Heartless looking friend. "What happened to you?" Kairi and Naminé asked in unison, they were concerned for their friend.

"Xehanort…" Riku said walking forward for a moment. He could feel the energy slip away now, and in a white cleansing light his body went back to the normal frame he was born with.

"Where's Amaterasu?" Sora asked looking around the area of the girl he mentioned. Riku looked down at the ground. "Riku… I…"

"She's alive, but she's not here…" Riku said quickly. "She's back at Maleficent's hideout, with another friend." He said trying not to let his mind wander away from the mission.

**R i k u **

It was hard explaining to them why she left, but it was part of King Mickey's plan. Sora did have faith in the plan, but Kairi was a bit suspicious about it all, but she decided she'd see it with her own eyes. Roxas and Naminé stayed silent while we spoke for a while, and they didn't now what to say.

No doubt that they knew who we were talking about, since Sora and Kairi loved to talk.

"That means she's back in Radiant Garden then?" Roxas asked in his simple manner. We all nodded and he sighed. "You want us to stick around here some more?" he asked Sora.

"You getting tired of being here?" the brunette asked his Nobody.

"No way!" Roxas said. "I can finally walk around and stuff. It gets cramped being stuck in your mind…" the Nobody said smiling at his other half. He noogied Sora and brought him down.

We looked back at the ruined wall.

"Master Yen Sid is going to be _pissed_!" both Roxas and Sora said in unison.

The girls and I laughed shaking our head for a moment. Other than that we got our friendship back together, talking about things that happened and stuff. Sora going on and on about how Kairi mastered the splitting technique before he did. Things didn't change that much, even while I was gone, but they missed me a lot, I could tell you that much.

"Riku!" the familiar voice called out. I turned around and noticed the King and the others run towards the group. Donald and Goofy hugged Sora and brought him down by the sheer force of emotions. Kairi and Naminé bowed and greeted the King.

"I'm all right now." I told King Mickey, and he sighed in relief. He asked what had happened to wall.

"Maleficent…" we all said in unison.

"Then it shouldn't be hard for Amaterasu to do her job then." The royal mouse said, and I could feel a smile move stealthily up on me. "Let's go and pay a visit to Master Yen Sid, shall we?"

"We'll pass…" Sora said putting an arm around my shoulder and Kairi's shoulder. Roxas and Naminé placed their arms around each other. "We've got some more catching up to do your Highness, if you don't mind."

"Fair enough, then." King Mickey said calling Donald and Goofy. I was allowed to stay outside with my friends.

"So how's your relationship with her?" Naminé asked as we all walked around the area of the tower.

A Nobody asking me about my relationship with a girl. I never would've thought about that ever, especially from a Nobody. I felt a blush creep up on me, and well I can't really lie about it.

"It's good!"

"What?!" Sora and Kairi practically yelled in my ears. "You… she… When?!"

"Yesterday slash today…" I said laughing nervously. I could feel my cheeks burn up a bit.

"What happened, you have to tell me!" Kairi said pulling me along. "How did it happen?"

"Wait what are you talking about?" I asked pulling my hand back.

"How did you tell her that you loved her? What are you thinking about?" Kairi asked raising an eyebrow in confusion.

I laughed nervously and rubbed the back of my head. For some reason something _completely_ different ran through my head, and Amaterasu would kick my ass if she found out that I even thought about it, or that I even thought that was what Kairi was talking about.

**A m a t e r a s u **

I sat down on this throne that belongs to Maleficent she's not here, so she won't mind. What he doesn't know won't kill her. I had asked Pete if he could be a dear and find me that certain sphere that contained the Keyblade War King Mickey had been longing for. I said it in my own way, and he didn't object to finding it.

Lightning looked around the throne room noticing that light actually filled this room rather than stain glass. "She's probably dead." Lightning said sneering, loving the fact that it might be true. That meant that she would be under my control and not the witch.

Heartless nature, should be obvious as to how it works, the one with the most darkness would control the Heartless, and since I wield the most amount now, Lightning was my responsibility.

I tapped my foot slightly on the floor, crossing my legs in annoyance. I was tired from all that running, but other than that I was just bored, and that got me tired too. Green flames sprouted from the ground and I threw myself off of the throne.

Lightning froze in place noticing the flames hold a figure within it. '_No… she's not…_' my thoughts ran around trying to figure out how they didn't kill her. '_Sora you idiot!_' my mind yelled curing the little Keyblade's 'Chosen One'. She looked worn out, her breathing was slow and she collapsed onto the throne. She had barely made it out from the battle.

"Those… pests…" the witch managed to say. "Girl…" I gulped and noticed that she didn't seem that pleased. "That boy… I saw him…"

"He betrayed us." I said feeling indifferent to it all now.

"I noticed…" she said coldly closing her eyes. "For now I want you to keep an eye on…" she groaned in pain. "That runt… the one with the Nobody…"

She ordered us out of her room, and all we could do was follow instructions. That was just great, here I thought she was dead, but even that bitch could escape death by a thread. '_Just face it, we're going to win…_' my own Heartless muttered for a moment. I didn't really care about that, I just wanted to leave, to get far away from here, to go back with Riku. To find Lightning's heart, to give King Mickey his sphere. So many promises to keep I can't even count them all.

For a moment I could feel something wrong, like Riku's yells ringing in my mind. I didn't know what to do, but I just begged for him to be all right. For now my mind is at peace, which means that Riku is doing fine.

"She wants you to go and spy on them…" Pete said noticing the cold stare I gave him for a moment. "I know you just got here, but that's her order." The guy said handing me the sphere. "Why do you need it anyway?"

"For something…" I said tossing the sphere into the air. It gleamed brightly, and I stuck it in the sack that hung over my back. "Pete, you know you can always leave this place…" I said looking back at him.

"…" he didn't say anything and his little ears went back in fear. "How do…?"

"It's written on your face. I can't read your heart, but I can see the emotion etched on your face." I said simply noticing a wave of relief run across his feature.

"I'm afraid… I have no place to go."

"Yeah well when the Dark Keyblade Master comes back he'll kill you." I said coldly. "a person like you has no place to be among him… It's better if you leave or you just run away, very far away, like the beach or something. I'll cover for you!" I said trying to get him to leave.

"Gee, would you really do that?" Pete asked looking at me confused.

"Maybe but you have to do me a favor."

"Which is…?"

I can't believe I'm placing an important item to _him_ but with the witch alive I won't be able to give it to him early at all. "I want you to give this to Yen Sid." I said simply. Lightning's eyes went wide at the mention of the plan.

**Several days later **

"Amaterasu…" Lightning whispered stepping lightly over the body of a dead guard. The girl dropped down from the roof, careful not to step on the body of the fallen guards.

"Did you have to kill them?" the girl whispered harshly.

"You said by whatever means…" the Heartless said sternly looking back at her 'client'.

"I didn't mean death!" she said softly waving her hands frantically.

"You there!" several guards yelled from in back of them.

Amaterasu and the Heartless turned around quickly and noticed guards with swords, and lances. "You men guard Princess Aurora!" several guards ran in the opposite direction and up a corridor.

"Go…" Lightning whispered to Amaterasu. "I'll distract the guards."

Amaterasu and Lightning charged forward, fire blazing past them, and ice zipping past them. Swords went in the air, and Amaterasu moved an inch to the side, and knocked one soldier out with a hand to the face guard. "We did the other guys go?" she asked Lightning as she brought out her weapon. Gun shots were heard echoing down the corridor.

"To the left!" the Heartless yelled pushing back some guards. She strained under the weight, but managed to evade on coming spells. Amaterasu twisted in the air, dodging a fireball, and sent a Gravity spell to a pair guards. Lightning jumped back and pulled the trigger on her weapon, the sword showed itself, and with a dash forward two guards were laid to waste, their heads far from their bodies.

Amaterasu cringed at the sight, but ran forward, evading more guards, and brought down two guards with her Keyblade. "You… but why?" a guard asked knowing what the Keyblade meant.

The Keyblade's edge was clearly able to be seen through the guard's stomach, shattering the protective armor he wore. "I'm just doing a job…" the girl said tossing the body to the side. The smell and sight of it all was enough to make the trigger in her heart start.

The other guards moved to the sight, noticing the cold look in the girl's eyes. She ran up to the corridor and ran down the left side of the hall.

More guards appeared. "Shit…" the girl muttered and sighed heavily for a moment. "I'm sorry you guys…" she out stretched her hand and Neo Shadows appeared before here. "Go…" she said pointing to the guards in her path.

Soldiers screamed in pain, others fought back, gurgling sounds were heard as the blood trickled through their mouths. Blood ran down the armor, faceguards were clearly broken, shattered fragments lodged into the face of those who wore them. Chest plates completely torn apart, holes where their hearts use to be. Such was the nature of Neo Shadows, the true nature. Amaterasu sighed watching the last Neo Shadow mercilessly rip the heart out of a guard.

She looked away feeling her humanity leave her for a while. The girl shook her head and walked down the hallway. '_This is it…_' she thought opening the door to the chamber of the pure hearted maiden.

"I'm sorry…" Amaterasu said closing her eyes for a moment. "Please find it in your heart to forgive me, Princess Aurora." With no guards to defended Amaterasu placed a strong level 'Stop' spell on the princess.

"No!" a man yelled in back of her. Amaterasu turned around and looked at the prince figure that stood there. Lightning held him back with no trouble.

"Do it, Amaterasu don't think!" the Heartless said, noticing the guilt take over the girl's body. Amaterasu's Keyblade began to give off a dark aura, and within a matter of moments the Keyblade lodged into the heart of one of the seven maidens of the purest heart.

**A/N: You know what to do _one_ review please! **


	36. Suscitatio ut Affectus accersitus

**A/N: My showcase is over, and so I can finally post up and update and write and stuff, thank the deities! I kicked butt in my performance, YAY! **

Rozen: **Thank you very much for that long and lengthy review, I worked hard on this chapter, so please enjoy it. Oh yeah, I will be using those two quotes if you don't mind, they really help my story move along, so thank you once again! **

Sorasheart281: **I'm not going to show her dying, but I've got tissues if you need them! I don't know about the chapters, hopefully about a couple more of them! **

Xejicka: **I love Flyleaf, and I have heard that song! Thank you so much for your review, yeah I didn't think I'd get Amaterasu to do that, but somehow she ended up doing it, or rather it just popped into my head. **

A friend: **Hey, THANK YOU so much for everything buddy, I mean it a lot. Well um, yeah I don't want to make this all mushy and stuff… I kicked butt on these two performance nights, so go me! **

**Thank you so much my loyal readers and reviewers, I'm so happy! **

**Now if I may… On with the story! **

**Chapter 36: Suscitatio ut Affectus accersitus…**(Awaken that Emotion called…)

_"A wonderful caricature of intimacy…" the girl managed to remember a song that had been plaguing her thoughts for several days. She stared up at the sky, the clouds doused in the twilight, signaling the night that would soon come. "What am I doing here? Why am I doing this…?" _

_'It's the only thing you know HOW to do…' the mind said thinking back to everything. All her actions, all her intuition, and down to the fiber in her being. 'You were created like this, when you gave your body to science, remember?' _

_"That may be true, but can't I be allowed to live like a human? I have a heart, so why can't I just live like them?" the girl asked watching the clouds move about her. "Does it really make that much of a difference if I have an artificial heart? Am I considered not human now?" _

_'Possibly, I do not know what to make of it, and I am a part of you. This is what you want to hear, correct? Fused with a young Heartless that has seen its fair share of battles, no doubt your brother is more prone to the blood lusting nature, you have a tolerance to this. Do you regret this?' _

_"No regrets…" the girl said sitting up. She looked at the pant legs, noticing a slight orange tinge on the blue fabric. This was blood, from a mission several weeks ago. She was not able to take the stain out, and so it showed her how she lived, each time she wore it. "It took a while to lessen the stain, blood landed on the fake Keyblade and it went everywhere, you were there." _

_'Indeed. So you have no regrets now?' _

_"This is my job, and no one else's…" Amaterasu said letting her body hit the grass again. "For a Heartless you ask so many questions." _

_'Common nature, I'm going to be with you till you lose your life.' _

_"That's nice to know…" the young girl said closing her eyes for a moment. "Strange though, Xehanort is upset with me for doing this. But when I knew him, this had already happened, you can't change the past… But you can…" _

_'Change the present course of time… Is that what you want to hear?' the Heartless said growling for a moment. 'To be doomed within the body of an ageless child of 16 years of age now… One good long year, and more to come, that's wonderful…' _

Lightning sighed for a moment watching Amaterasu lay in the small patch of green grass. Princess Aurora's castle was covered now in thorns, signaling Maleficent's return to the townspeople. The pure maiden's 'hearts' had been transported to the hidey-hole, hooked to a machine, suitable for transportation to Sunset Horizon as soon as the last heart was collected. It had taken Amaterasu a while to grasp the concept for taking their hearts like that.

Technically it wasn't the heart that was taken, but the body as well. While the darkness began to spread through the heart the body went into this hibernating mode, to try and fight off the darkness. Yet up to this point the bodies went into shock, absolutely defenseless at this point, so there was no issue with the darkness spreading over the pure untainted hearts. Using the power of the tainted hearts from the Princess of Heart, and securing it within his own heart, the Dark Keyblade master had done this a long time ago, which had led to the destruction of most of Elusion-Ilusion's structures.

"Are you all right, Amaterasu?" the Heartless asked noticing that the girl was unresponsive for several minutes. Lightning placed a gentle palm on the girl's shoulder and she turned over to her side.

"I don't feel too good…" the girl said worriedly feeling the scent around her mix with blood now. Her nature came back to what it had been long ago. "Do I have blood anywhere on me?" she asked afraid of what Lightning's response would be now.

No blood stained the girl, but she seemed to be paranoid about the whole deal now. "Not that I can see." Lightning said noticing the girl stir up, hugging her knees at this point. "We… We should probably leave this place now, and look for the last heart."

Amaterasu shook her head vigorously. "No! We can't, not to her… We can't! We cannot… She… I know her. She's… or rather _was_ my friend. I don't care if the witch gets mad at me, but no harm will come to her."

"Amaterasu, I can't follow that order, you know that. Maleficent calls the orders now, not you…" the Heartless said feeling some pain within the empty area of her heart. "I really wish that it was the other way around."

"Sora and Riku…" the girl felt her heart twist in pain at the thought of the other two. "No, I don't want them to be mad with me. I don't…"

'_It's too late to feel guilt…_' the second voice in her mind responded. '_Trust me you can't go back, you'll die…_'

"Let me evolve…" the girl muttered to herself avoiding Lightning's gaze for a while. "Let me try, I don't care if I die…"

'_If you go and try to help, you'll lose his trust, his love, his friendship everything you worked so hard for. Do you want that?_'

"If I go and try to help, maybe I can prevent that…" the girl said fighting with her inner mind, she wanted to break away from that nature more than anything.

'_Darkness can't evolve; it can either extend or diminish. What you will do will end your life, at the hands of the one you love._'

Amaterasu stood up, and looked back at Lightning as she sat down, looking at her with those blue eyes filled with no soul at all. She extended her hand to the Heartless and she took it. "Does this mean we are going to Twilight Town?" the Heartless asked. Amaterasu nodded and looked back at the vast village beneath the area they rested in. The civilians didn't seem to walk about the streets now, Heartless moved across the streets tearing at the flesh of all the living, including the livestock. '_Is this what darkness brings? If so why did I embrace it so quickly, and early? What did I want? Absolutely nothing but acceptance from it, that was a blind thing to do and I'm paying it with my life…_' the girl thought looking back at Lightning.

They walked down the empty streets, Neo Shadows patrolling the sidewalks for any signs of a pulse from a heart wielding object. Lightning detested the Heartless for disrupting the lives of the people, but it wasn't in her place to speak out, because she was a Heartless, with a somewhat developed conscience now. A smaller lesser Heartless walked alongside Amaterasu, and the girl carefully picked it up.

"What are…?" Lightning looked a bit confused at the fact of what the girl did. Amaterasu hugged the creature, noticing that nothing happened. The Heartless did not dare claw at the heart beating within the girl's chest. Darkness finally shielding her heart from the attacks of the dark beings. "Amaterasu…" Lightning understood what the girl had done now. "You gave in…"

"A friend of mine told me once, even in the deepest depths there's a light that never goes out…" the girl said sadly placing the lesser Heartless on the floor watching it scurry along. "I'm not going to dwell on the fact that my heart is tainted with darkness, because I picked it, and I understand."

The two of them did not say anything for a while, noticing that another Heartless found a victim, and Amaterasu cringed watching the crimson stained claws rise up in the air. "Stop!" Amaterasu said commanding the Heartless to cease its attack on the body, but the claws buried themselves deeper within the body. "Stop!" the girl ran past the human Heartless pushing the Neo Shadow away from the limp body. "That's enough!"

The Neo Shadow jumped back noticing the girl for a moment. In the mind of the Heartless she was registered as an ally, but was still confused in nature by her action of having a sort of 'kind' heart. The Heartless tried to move again, going for its prey, and Amaterasu stood in front of it, growling slightly. Lightning watched from a couple of feet away, wanting to see how it would end. '_You're being torn apart by it, aren't you?_' the Heartless thought watching her 'client' pull out her Keyblade.

'_It's starting to eat away at you… After a week of our stay here._' Lightning's blue eyes noticed Amaterasu protecting the limp body now. The human body on the grass was left a bloody mess. Gashes on their arm, and deep, long wounds running down the thighs of the limp body. The Neo Shadow before had no choice but to react and attack at the weapon drawn before it. With a swift and powerful motion Amaterasu ducked under the attack of its kick, and the Keyblade neatly hacked the head clear off of the shoulders. Several more Neo Shadows emerged reacting to the presence of the Keyblade at hand. Lightning couldn't take it at all anymore feeling 'compassion' for the Heartless being attacked now.

"That's enough…" Lightning said walking down to where Amaterasu stood. The Neo Shadows stopped their advance towards the girl, and looked up at Lightning. Lightning emitted a low hiss, and the antennas from the others drew back in fear. Amaterasu looked back at the female Heartless and withdrew her weapon. "They won't adhere to what you have to say." Lightning said informatively, "As long as Maleficent is here, they go under her command."

"Let's just go…" Amaterasu said looking down at the limp body. The body's heart remained untouched, but as soon as she would leave the Heartless would try once again to steal the heart from the limp, almost deceased body. As soon as the dirt road met with their shoes, they continued onward down the thoroughfare. Amaterasu looked back, watching the Heartless gang up on the defenseless body. Her stomach churned slightly, and she covered her mouth, the scent of blood and tears mixed into the air, and the wind carried it down the long and winding road before them. The girl noticed that the blue eyed Heartless had a point, as long as Maleficent was around Amaterasu wouldn't be able to call the shots.

"It's not your fault…" the Heartless said trying to provide mimicked words of comfort. The girl shook her head and looked down at her feet, noticing each step she took. She took a step away from the dark reality, leaving that behind to her, only to walk forward into another problem that would prove to be far greater than the last incident. Amaterasu looked back up at the sky; crows seemed to gather around the area of the thorn covered castle. '_All they did was signal the end of my luck,_' the girl thought looking to the side of her. '_Why did I think a bird like that would bring me luck…?_' she clutched the necklace around her, and felt a small needle jab her heart once again.

"What I'm about to do, is my fault." Amaterasu said breaking her silence. Lightning looked at her for a moment, their steps in synch now. The girl had finally accepted the terms of her punishment, she didn't want anything bad to happen, but it was impossible to please so many people. Amaterasu remembered why she didn't commit to memory so many promises; it was because she knew she couldn't keep them all. "I could've stopped this. Maybe I should've persuaded the witch to stay back in Radiant Garden… But it's too late for that now, so I have to do this. I want to change it, but I mean this is all I know in the end…"

"Once this is done…" Lightning didn't know whether she should remind the girl once again. "Will you still keep your promise to me?" Amaterasu's eyes widened for a moment stopping her body from moving for a moment. "Or will you break it?" the girl looked away from her, and crossed her arms over her chest. Amaterasu cleared her throat, another promise finally catching up to her. Amaterasu walked past her for a moment, trying to figure out what to say to her. The Heartless followed after her, and stopped her from advancing ant further. She placed a strong grip on the girl's shoulder, enough to probably get the girl to stop. "Will you?" the Heartless asked once again.

"I…" Amaterasu felt her bottom lip tremble, for a moment her heartbeat was racing. "I intend to see that promise through," the girl looked back at the blue eyed Heartless, "even if it kills me somehow, I won't give up on giving you a heart." Out of all the promises this was probably going to be the one she would not give up on and the one she would see through in person, instead of someone else doing it for her.

**Twilight** **Town**

"The girl sent this," Yen Sid handing King Mickey a sphere of some sort. The king looked at it carefully, examining the surface of it, watching something faintly, like a scene, playing across the surface of its round surface, "Pete, he said that she wanted you to have this." The royal mouse looked at the sphere then back to his former master and teacher. "This has been the sphere you've been looking for isn't it?" King Mickey said nothing but gave a solid nod. "The other sphere, where _he_ sleeps has not been awakened yet."

"I know," the king said softly looking back at the sphere. "She's not going to return now." The king said referring to the girl, the one called 'Amaterasu'. "This is her last promise to me, and now she's off to do whatever she pleases." The king sighed for a moment and placed the sphere back on the table, near Yen Sid. The old master and teacher understood what the king meant by that, seeing as how he had been present when the promise was made a long time ago. "I fear we can't keep history from repeating itself. Too many of the pieces have already gathered together. It's only a matter of time before they search for Kairi, and her heart."

"I would not doubt if they are on their way as we speak. It should be best to inform the young Princess of Heart, as soon as possible." Yen Sid said noticing King Mickey stand up pausing for a moment, before his gloved hand reached the brass doorknob. The royal mouse turned around and sighed for a moment. "Do you know her location?" Yen Sid asked his former pupil. King Mickey had no answer at this point, and stood there for a moment.

"I'll find her and inform the others as well…" King Mickey said taking the brass doorknob and opening the entrance that acted as an exit. With that the door closed, and the mouse went off to search for the princess and the Keyblade's 'Chosen One'.

Roxas and Naminé panted for a moment looking at the people in back of them. They ran up to the sight before them, staring out into the sunset Twilight Town had to offer on that romantic gazing spot. Kairi, Sora, and Riku followed behind gazing at the sight before them. This place was called 'Sunset Hill' mostly known for its beautiful and scenic view of the sun as it gave into the night. "Isn't it romantic?" Kairi asked looking over the ledge, the wind gently blowing in their direction. The sunset was something that couldn't be matched by any other world, not matter how hard it tried.

"That's something Selphie would say," both Riku and Sora said, thinking back to their friends they left on the island. "You should bring Amaterasu here one day." Sora said patting his good friend on the back. The silver haired teen let out a small laugh, slightly in discomfort. "I'll try…" Riku said feeling something in the back pocket of his pants. He pulled out the item, noticing that it was a familiar amulet. '_The summoning amulet…_' the boy thought holding it out for a moment longer.

"She wants you to have this." Riku said handing the brunette an amulet of some sort. "It's a little gift from her." The boy said noticing Sora take great interest in the amulet now. "It's an amulet for this creature thing, it's sort of like a summoning." Riku said placing his arms on the ledge, and leaned out a bit. Sora placed it on one of the clips underneath his belt, gazing at the rest of the amulets he had received during his travels. Once the worlds were in order they went back to their homes. "It's a Shadow Hound convene."

"That thing that knocked me out?!" Sora asked almost falling backwards. "Out of all the things she could've given me, she gives me that weird looking dog!" Sora said thinking back to the massive teeth, powerful paws, and strange fur and body structure. "It better not try and steal the Keyblade again…" Riku just sighed and hung his head for a moment, exhaling again in a louder tone.

"You miss her a lot, don't you, Riku?" Kairi asked, she couldn't help but notice the condition her friend was in. He didn't seem all that cheery now, as he possibly couldn't stand being away from her for so long. Naminé watched Riku for a moment trying to read the expression on his face, but all she could make out was guilt. '_Why does he feel guilt, what did he do?_' Naminé asked herself, but nothing could answer her now.

"I feel bad, for leaving her." Riku said folding his hands, still leaning on the ledge of the area. His heartbeat was slow now, as he tried to relax himself for a moment, trying to think of positive thoughts. '_She's doing fine; Lightning is taking care of her… Nothing bad's going to happen._' His thoughts wanted to keep his sanity happy now. "I worry about her." He said honestly, "I don't feel comfortable leaving her like that." He stuffed one hand into the front pocket of his pants, pulling out the mp3 player. '_I promised I'd give this back to you,_' he looked down at the necklace hanging around his neck; delicately he placed a hand on the blue and black ring that clinked alongside the friendship piece.

_'How do you know if she is all right? How do you know she's not betraying you?'_ the Heartless returned from its short slumber, and Riku brushed off its taunts. There was no point trying to answer the Heartless' question, since it would ask more and more after he answered. Riku sighed and moved aside from the group around him, trying to figure out what to do now. '_I feel like something is going to happen…_' he looked back at his friends, they seemed so happy now, laughing and joking around now. '_How can I tell them?_' he wanted to know how he could tell them.

'_I can't…_' he thought to himself. He wanted to leave and go and find the girl. Riku wanted more than anything to take her away from there, and that was all he wanted to do now. The silver haired teen wanted that to be his plan of action, but he would wait for her to come back. '_I know you'll come back once your done, I know you will,_' he didn't let any doubt come into mind at this point now.

Sora and the others watched Riku's behavior for a moment. He seemed a bit more distant now, after coming back. The two girls noticed the boy take a small earpiece and place it in his ear; he seemed to have his eyes transfixed on something. Kairi and Naminé knew something was wrong, because of something in the manner of his actions. Call it women's intuition, but something was going to happen. "We should probably head back now…" Naminé said looking back at Sora and Roxas, Kairi nodded, agreeing to what her Nobody said.

As they began to head out, Riku stopped in his tracks for a moment. He took the earpiece off, and placed the item back, securely in his pant pocket. '_That smell,_' he thought looking around the area. Everything had gone quiet now, something didn't seem right, and Riku's own intuition would come into play. "Heartless?" he asked himself aloud remembering the scent now. For some reason he detected the faint scent of cherry blossoms. '_It's just my mind playing tricks on me…_' he thought to himself.

"Kairi!" two voices called out. The Nobody and brunette called out hurriedly. Dark blots formed around the young Princess of Heart, and Sora jumped in front of the girl, brandishing his weapon of choice. Roxas pulled out Oathkeeper and stood near Kairi and Sora, trying to protect her as well. Riku blinked in surprise, and ran forward whipping out his weapon to vanquish the enemies.

**Entrance of ** **Twilight** **Town**

Two figures wearing dark hooded clothing walked through the gummi port, into the entrance of the town. One figure sighed mumbling something while the other just looked back at the shorter and younger figure, shaking their head in disagreement. "If you were going to act like this, then why bother to come at all?" the taller one asked, in a rather cold tone.

"What else was I suppose to do…?" the younger one responded rubbing their right wrist slightly. The figure felt uncomfortable just being here, even breathing the air. "Right now, they're fighting with them even as we speak."

"That'll be enough to just slow them down, then…" the taller figure sighed noticing again the behavior of the younger figure. "You're making me feel bad about this now." The figure said, feeling a frown etched across their face, but the hood prevented from the action being seen. "He's going to see you. He'll remember who you are, even with the disguise."

"We're keeping out of sight, remember?" the younger one wanted to remind the taller and older looking collaborator. They kept on walking down the orange tinged walkway, leading to the residential area of it all. The younger figure looked back to where the gummi ship was docked, and made a face of disgust. "I hate how they smell…"

"Yeah well, cherry blossoms cancel the scent out a bit." The other said chuckling for a moment at that fact. A gloved hand went down on the head of the younger one. "Let's just keep out of sight for a while, and then strike at the right time."

The other one nodded, and clutched something that hung around the side of the dark hooded coat. Something cold as metal met the gloved hand and the figure gently stroked the item, fighting off the urge to make a sound of dejection. "Pick up the pace." The older one said motioning to the younger one to walk around the corner. "The clock tower will give us a better view."

"He's going to find me…" the figure said sadly. "What will I tell him? How can I? I can't face him if he does find me!" the younger one said loudly, not caring if people stared at the two of them as they walked down. The other figure just shook their head and walked down to where the clock tower was stationed.

**R i k u **

"To your left!" I called out attacking Heartless on my side of the area. Sora hurled his Keyblade to the left side of the area, decapitating about five of them. Kairi and Naminé stood back to a distance casting spells to try and keep the momentum going now. Roxas pulled out Oblivion and parried with the surrounding Neo Shadows that ganged up on him.

'_It still smells like those flowers…_' I thought jumping back, and neatly slicing a Heartless, it moved for a moment, and then fell to the floor with a loud thump. They were inexorable, that's how Heartless acted. A bigger type of Heartless had to be commanding them, but the leader wasn't in sight, which was weird, Heartless don't act like that at all. I dashed forward, narrowly missing a claw, and hacked the arm clean off, the Heartless moved again trying to attack with one arm, but it stopped, and disappeared. In its own way it seemed to pass out from the pain.

Kairi placed a 'Firaga' spell, the flames sprouted from the type of the Keyblade she held in her hand. The flames roared as they came into contact with the enemy. Bodies disintegrated when the emitted spell scorched the bodies. Kairi knew how to handle her magic; after all she trained under Yen Sid. Amaterasu had been right; she was suited better for magic than fighting.

I panted for a moment trying to catch my breath. A Neo Shadow caught me off guard when I moved, I didn't notice it had jumped to the side, and it tried to hack my head off. '_Thunder,_' I thought commanding a lightning bolt to strike the Heartless head on. I placed one foot forward and used the burst of speed to strike the enemy down. More and more where starting to come our way, and it was up to the point where everything was just a sea of black.

"I thought you closed this place, Sora?" Roxas asked using Lightning Strike. The Heartless was paralyzed and Roxas took the executing modus operandi. Sora looked back at Roxas for a moment, not really sure of what to say. He just attacked a couple of more Heartless, trying to protect his heart and us. "Riku, behind you!" Roxas yelled out trying to my direction.

As I rolled to the side I felt something claw at my leg, and something made a _clunk_ sound. I looked up slightly, watching the Heartless feet stop directly in front of me. I noticed the item that fell to the floor. '_Her mp3 player…_'I thought scrambling to make it past the Neo Shadows. Fire roared past me, hitting the desired targets. A Keyblade went through the air cutting two opponents in half. A Neo Shadow stood in my path, and with a quick motion of my arms the body disappeared from sight.

"No!" I yelled hurriedly noticing a Neo Shadow pick the device up with its clawed black paw, or arm, whatever it was. '_Jeopardizing your life for that apparatus?_' the other voice called out in my mind. I chased after the Heartless, as it moved into the crowd of Neo Shadows. '_I made her a promise…_' it was the only thing I could manage to rebut with. I slashed and flung Heartless in several directions, letting my one desire come to mind, to get the mp3 player back. '_If you want that object back so badly… use the darkness to get it back, but don't miss up, or…_' the other voice paused for a moment. "Sora, use the Shadow Hound amulet!" I said blocking the claws of a Heartless.

Within moments of the suggestion a huge beast drew back its lips, revealing menacing fangs to the Neo Shadows. The Heartless hissed and growled in their own way as the beast advanced, a dark aura surrounding the charging animal. Several Heartless were knocked in the air as the attack of claws and teeth were enough to send them flying. Sora took that moment to go into Anti-Form, and as a mass of a black tinted figure, he went into the air mercilessly attacking, and shredding the air-borne enemies.

**A m a t e r a s u **

There was nothing I could find to keep my mind preoccupied, and all I could think about was him. I felt guilty, and it showed, Lightning said so, and well it did give the impression of it being true. The smell of Heartless got to me a bit, and it was enough to get me a bit dizzy. Being this close to the Heartless, it was something that wasn't use to at all, but at one point of my life I had gotten use to, for it had been a while back when I had once sided with the dark creatures. '_I hope Sora puts the amulet to good use,_' I thought to myself watching the twilight colored sky. I fumbled around with the black coat, finally taking the hood off, letting the cool air brush up against my cheeks. "And paying in naivety…" I said softly looking down at the buildings.

A massive sea of black dots covered one portion of the area, and little particles of red, blue, and yellow hit several black dots. I looked to the person sitting beside me, and sighed for a moment. Lightning took off the black hood, and shook her head, hair was obscuring her view of the fight taking place down there. "When are you going to call them off?" she asked looking back at me for a moment. I shrugged for a moment and then I opened my mouth, but I had nothing to say. "Just call them off before they end up killing the girl."

"Yeah…" I said dejectedly not really focusing on anything. The Heartless were feeding off of the emotions I had stirring within me, guilt and confusion, and they loved that feeling to no end, and they used it to their advantage, sort of like a moral booster as they attacked. "There's an opening…" I heard Lightning say, pulling her hood back up, as she started to disappear before my eyes. "Be…" there was no point telling her as she seemed to be down there already. I looked at the ground scanning my eyes for a moving black object. '_There she is…_' I thought noticing her move to the pink figure moving about.

A Neo Shadow reappeared from the darkness of the clock tower, handing me a little blue device, it made little hisses and growls. '_This is…_' I took the item and dismissed the dark creature back it its job. The words 'Build God, Then We'll Talk,' ran across the screen, the pause symbol placed on the corner of the screen. '_Riku…_' I thought fighting back more emotions that stirred in my heart. The little device went into my pocket, and I looked back down to try and find Lightning, something caught my eye while peering down there.

"No…" I thought to myself pulling my hood back up. Sora had found her out. "Damn it…" I muttered cursing out loud.

A cold feeling came over me as I reappeared a couple of feet away from Lighting and Kairi. Sora moved forward ready to strike at Lightning, but she moved back making it seem like child's play. The Neo Shadows stopped moving and stood still, as I walked forward. Lightning placed a gloved hand over the girl's mouth and Sora stopped for a moment looking back at me.

"Let go of Kairi!" the boy said trying to threaten us. "You're outnumbered 3 to 2." I tried not to laugh at that.

"Last time I checked," Lightning said in a cold voice, "we're the ones with an army of Heartless." She motioned to the Neo Shadows standing around us. "Be a good kid, and let us do our job." I looked back at Sora and Kairi, they had called back their Nobodies, from what the Heartless had told me earlier, when that Neo Shadow dropped off the mp3 player. I sighed for a moment and opened a black portal in back of Lightning and Kairi.

"I'll hold them off for a bit." I said hoping that Lightning would go and take Kairi into the portal. She shook her head, and I growled for a moment. "Use the Heartless." She suggested and I looked back at the Neo Shadows. '_I don't want to…_' I thought to myself as I heard my own two fingers snap. The Neo Shadows whizzed past me, and charged in a straight line. I heard a beast growl, and I looked off into the distance. '_It's the Shadow Hound…_' I thought to myself. "Let's go!" I said making a dash for the portal.

"Kairi!" both boys called out trying to advance, but the Neo Shadows blocked their path. I heard something fall in back of me, but I didn't think anything of it. Lightning took Kairi and ran through the dark portal, and I followed behind them.

**Twilight** **Town**** Manor **

"Let me go!" the girl yelled loudly, trying to struggle out of one of the hooded figures grip. It was no use, the girl ended up exhausting herself out. She stopped protesting and looked at the two dark hooded figures. "I thought Sora defeated you guys!" the two black hooded figures looked at one another, and a laugh could be heard from the younger looking one. "What's so…?"

"You think we're with Organization XIII?" the younger one asked, laughing at the thought that had crossed Kairi's mind. "That's rich… Even you should know that they're all gone now. Us? With them?" the younger one couldn't help but laugh again. "You're sadly mistaken this time, Kairi," the figure couldn't help but let the girl's name sound melancholy.

"Besides a Heartless has no place with Nobodies." The other figure said letting Kairi go from the grip that was placed on her. Kairi struggled against the dark material that wrapped around her wrists. "You can't break that stuff," the other figure said, laughing at the sight, "but I know you'll try to break out of it anyway."

Kairi made a face of discontent and thought for a moment. '_I can't materialize Naminé now, these chains won't let me. That and well even if I did have a chance she's still learning how to fight… I should've just tried a bit harder, but somehow I don't think they'll hurt me._' The brunette female sighed and slumped back against a chair, leaning forward so as not to hurt her wrists. '_These two are weird, they aren't even trying anything, I could run, but the taller one seems really strong from what I sense,_' she sighed again, and the younger figure looked back at her for a moment.

"Raindrops on roses and girls in white dresses…" the younger figure carried out a little melody, and Kairi noticed that the hooded figure had little head phone wires coming down from her hood. '_Why does it feel like I know this one…?_' the girl thought for a moment and shook her head, '_it's probably just my head playing tricks on me… But still the voice it sounds so familiar, but why?_'

"Quick question," the young figure said putting the headphones on their lap. Kairi looked at the hooded figure trying to make out the face behind the hood, but she had no luck. "Where's King Mickey?"

"Why should I answer you?" Kairi retorted with another question, and the taller figure looked down at her for a moment. "I'm not telling you where he is." The younger figure sighed and snapped her finger, and one small Heartless appeared. The Shadow type Heartless walked clumsily towards the younger hooded figure, and the figure whispered something to the little Heartless, and it disappeared in a ball of black mist. "What did you…?"

"I'm just giving it some suggestions about where he could be…" the younger figure said pulling out the little mp3 device again. Kairi's eyes widened for a moment, _'That's Amaterasu's…_' the girl couldn't help but look at the younger figure now. "Your face got kind of pale," the figure said noting the pale color etched on the blue eyed girl's face.

"It's nothing," Kairi said asking her head for a moment. Again she couldn't help but feel that somehow she knew this younger figure. It was beginning to bug her now, "Listen, have we meet before?" she finally asked trying to peer into the darkness of the hood, but that seemed to be impossible.

"I've met a friend of yours, she calls herself Amaterasu." The younger one said laughing. The taller one looked down for a moment, somehow as a reaction to the sentence. "She talks about this Riku guy, Sora, and you."

"'Met her?'" Kairi couldn't help but reiterate that phrase. "You…? Did you do anything to…?" she could feel her heart stir with anger for a moment.

"No," the taller said shaking her head. "Let's just say that she's a bit preoccupied with something." The younger one couldn't help but laugh.

"She's with you guys?!" the girl couldn't help but blurt out. "Damn… Riku's going to be pretty pissed off at you guys…"

"We didn't brain wash her if you think that's what we did…" the younger one said cutting her off. '_I'm sorry, you guys…_' the younger one couldn't hide it anymore, but stopped for a moment, feeling the gloved hands on the hood. "She decided to go of her own accord."

"The darkness never really leaves you completely…" the taller one said sounding a bit remorseful about the fact. "Anyway listen…" the younger cut the taller one off. "We really should stop wasting time, we've got two sphere's waiting for us, and you're going to tell us where they are!" Kairi flinched back, feeling steel press against her neck. The taller one had a strange weapon in their gloved hands.

**The Train Station **

Riku fell back as the last Heartless fell to the ground, his arms had scraps, and his right leg had a deep gash. Sora leaned against his Keyblade for support, and made his way to Riku's injured side. Sora muttered a 'Cure' spell, watching the deep gash close up, and Riku cringed in pain for a moment feeling the flesh stretch for a moment. The Shadow Hound walked up to them, placing its ears to the side in disappointment. It held something in its mouth, and placed it by Riku's side, "I think it wants you to have it…" Sora said flopping down to the ground, it did hurt a bit to sit down after the fight.

"This…" Riku sat up slightly, feeling the Shadow Hound push him up slightly. He looked at the item by his side, '_this is… No, it can't be… This is…_' he picked up the little item, and flames and black angel feathers protruded forming a shape of a Keyblade. "This is _her_ Keyblade…" Riku said feeling a bit of anger rise in his throat. "What are they doing with _her_ Keyblade?"

"Who knows…?" Sora said looking at the Keyblade a bit closer. "You think she's around here?" Riku shrugged for a moment he looked at the Keyblade for a moment, and withdrew it back to its keychain form.

"But I know her; she wouldn't just leave it lying around here. Unless if they took it from her, but she wouldn't let anyone touch it, let alone taking it from her, she loves Keyblades…" Riku said holding the keychain in his hand. The Shadow Hound whimpered for a moment. '_That's right, this was her dog…_' Riku thought back for a moment she had mentioned it once, but it seemed like a far off distant memory. "I wonder…" Riku placed the keychain to the hound's nose, "can you find out if she's here?"

The Shadow Hound growled for a moment watching another figure walk into the area. '_It's the king!_' both of the boys thought watching the royal mouse walk towards them. The Shadow Hound growled once again, and Sora told it to be quiet, and it let out a heavy sigh in annoyance, and obeyed the order from its new master. "Where's Kairi?" the king asked, and both boys looked down for a moment.

"Two dark hooded figures took her," Sora said trying hard not to remember that now. He felt his heart break off for a second or two. The king cursed among himself and looked back at the two boys. "We should hurry then." King Mickey said. He eyed the Shadow Hound for a moment.

"It's a gift from Amaterasu." Sora said standing up for a moment. Riku pushed himself up and the hound sat by Sora's side, as if to make itself known. "We got her Keyblade." Sora said taking Riku's arm, and showed the keychain that the boy held in his grasp. "She's got to be around her somewhere!"

"About that you two… Never mind" the king didn't know what to say about all of this. "Listen, we don't have time, they might have taken Kairi's heart by now…"

**Yen Sid's Tower **

"This brings back a couple of old memories…" the younger one said, as one gloved hand felt around for something in the dark coat's pocket. "Shit…" the figure said cursing rather loudly. "I dropped it!" the younger one said looking at the taller one.

"What do you…? Are you sure?" the figure asked their partner, and the partner nodded in reply. "Think about where…"

"Back over there…" the figure said referring to the train station. "It must have been when we ran through the portal." The figure paced back and forth around the entrance to the white tower. "I'm an idiot…" the figure whispered. '_I really hope that someone picked it up at least; I have to get it back. That's the only one I can use…_'

"What about the Moogles?" the taller one asked.

"You really think the Moogles will want to help someone like me? Especially if it's for the dark side…" the figure thought for a while. '_There's a way to get a new one… but you'll have to go deeper into the darkness…_' the voice popped into the mind of the younger one. '_You want to try?_' it asked. "I don't know…" the younger one said to themselves.

"What did you lose?" Kairi asked looking back at the two of them.

"If I told you…" the younger one said, "it'd awaken a pretty bad emotion in you. Which means you would know who I am…"

"Wait so we have…" Kairi wanted to find out who this person was now. "We have met before, haven't we?"

"You just tell yourself that…" the younger one said rather coldly, taking the gloved hand out of the coat pocket. It was frustrating, without that weapon it didn't feel rather complete, or rather the figure didn't feel like their heart was complete without it. '_There's another point as to why my heart doesn't feel complete…_' the figure thought to themselves for a moment, sighing heavily. "Forget it for right now. You," the figure motioned to Kairi, as the taller figure held their weapon close to the girl's neck, "… You're going to tell us where those two spheres are at."

"I don't know." Kairi said feeling rather annoyed at this point, it was the second time they had told her that, and it was the second time she repeated her answer.

"The look in your eyes say something else," the taller one said noticing the blue eyes widen in fear for a moment.

"Why do you guys need me anyway?" the girl asked trying to move away from the weapon drawn close to her neck. The younger figure just shook their head.

"Princess of Heart, does that ring a bell to you?" the figure pointed to her. "I can't really tell you _why_, because it's confidential…" the figure said looking up at the twilight sky for a moment that covered this part of the world.

"I think I know where I've met you from…" Kairi said slightly, looking down at the ground for a moment, the weapon was still close to her neck. "You…"

"No!" the younger figure said angrily. "You don't know me…" at that point Kairi felt as though a link to the chain of a friend's name, from her heart, fell deep into the darkness.

"That's right…" Kairi said a bit awkwardly for a moment. "I just feels like I do…" somehow the girl knew that something was wrong. '_Why can't I remember, I just had the name a minute ago. The voice, it's so familiar… If I can just put a name to it, maybe when the guys find me they'll know who this person is…_'

Within moments of the little event, the taller figure forced Kairi into Yen Sid's tower. Their mission was simple, to go and raid the tower and find the two spheres. Somehow the younger figure had a bad feeling about the whole idea, but it quickly changed when she noticed that the little Heartless from earlier appeared from underneath the shadows of one of the staircases, it held something in its clawed hands. "What did you find?" the younger one asked in a gentle tone to the little creature of pure darkness.

It made several hisses, and the antennae protruding from the head moved in synch as it tried to tell the scenario it was in. Somewhere along the lines the younger one understood that it had to wait for Yen Sid to leave at least one sphere alone, which was the one it held in its hand. "Do you know which one it is?" the younger figure asked. The Heartless had no idea which one it was. "Right… that's not what I asked you to do… Sorry," the figure apologized to the shadowy being.

'_I need a Keyblade…_' the younger one thought for a moment, looking back at Kairi as the taller figure kept her from moving. '_This is going to be a bit tough without it… but still there is the other option. I'll just need to go deeper into the darkness, but I don't want to lose my heart to it…_'

**A/N: You know what to do **_one_** review please!**


	37. Nox noctis opportunus Diluculo

**A/N: Holy Moley Batman it's 18 pages long (without the thank you's)! My goodness this is the longest chapter I have EVER done for FF and I should be so proud, I loved working on this chapter a lot! **

**Amaterasu:** You haven't updated in almost a week…

**Me:** That's true, but I'm happy I did this chapter! I feel bad for Riku…

**Riku:** Don't we all…? Darn it RF why must you make me have bad timing?

**Everybody else:** Because it's fun…

Anyway…

Xejicka: **Thank you so much for your review, and well yeah you are right it's not possible to finish this story within a couple of chapters, but I'm thinking of giving them a somewhat happy ending. **

Sorasheart281: **Yes I love Panic! At the Disco, and so many other sentimental bands. If I kill Amaterasu then that means Riku's going to kill himself, but no, just read this chapter and one of your guesses will prove true! **

Rozen:** Rozen thank you SO MUCH! Don't shed a tear for the length of the chapter, I mean I don't think this one is that good, but I was glad to type it out. I love the quotes and they've helped me push further into the story, and so here it is! **

**Amaterasu and Riku:** Now on with the story!

…Yeah on with the story…

**Chapter 37: Nox noctis opportunus Diluculo **(Night meets Dawn)

_A man in a black hooded coat came running through the halls of a white area. "Zexion! Zexion!" the man yelled out motioning to the one standing near him. The man by the name of Zexion turned around, in a bit of annoyance. _

_"What's all the fuzz about, Vexen?" the other man asked. His hood covered his face, as did the other man's. Vexen began to fidget a bit, trying to get his words out carefully. _

_"Where's Xemnas?" the man named Vexen asked, trying not to annoy Zexion. _

_"At the usual place." He answered casually. Vexen nodded for a moment and tried to remember the name of the usual place. _

_"The 'Room of Sleep'?" the man asked, hoping that his hunch was right. _

_"Listen… If it's urgent, then… why don't you go and see?" _

_"Don't joke around with something like that, you know how he gets. I'll look out for his return. That's all I can do anyway…When we need him what does he go and do? He decides to sleep… Now, of all times…" the man by the name of Vexen walked away in dismay about the whole thing. _

_Another hooded figure jumped down from one of the beams of the area. "I'm not so good in that place either. How about you, mister Zexion?" _

_"What are you doing, eavesdropping like this? There's a mission assigned to you and Xaldin, and that was to look for new members. You shouldn't be playing around we can't afford to waste time like that." Zexion sounded a bit exasperated now. _

_"I'm doing enough work, already! Found another one just yesterday. I think his new name is 'Mar-'…" Xigbar muttered the last syllable of the name, but it didn't sound right, "something or other. With this new guy the Organization now has 11 members. That's quite a number. And so just for today I asked Lexaeus to cover for me so I could take a break... in eagerness of tomorrow's work, that is." _

_"Then please rest fully. I have work to do for today so I'll be going…" Zexion said getting ready to move his feet once again. _

_"That's just like you. I just want us to have a little fun talk about, say, Xemnas' secret? How many years ago was it? Back when people with the Keyblades started to appear and fought great battles. When they were gone, a man who had lost his memories appeared. Xemnas... no... Xehanort was taken in by Ansem around that time, was he not?" Xigbar said going down memory lane for a moment. _

_"So, what about it?" Zexion asked not really wanting to hear about it. _

_"The 'Room of Sleep'… The underground laboratory where we were studying the darkness within people's hearts, the place which Ansem ordered us to seal-away... The first thing Xemnas did when he got rid of our wise yet bothersome leader was to release the seal and make that room in the depths of the laboratory. After that he frequently went down there and I could hear him talking with someone. Isn't that odd? I thought Xemnas was supposed to be down there alone." _

_"It seems you really enjoy eavesdropping." Zexion said looking back at Xigbar, trying to make out his face from the shadow of the hood. _

_Xigbar crossed his arms over his chest for a moment, "I couldn't hear what they were actually saying. And so I now feel preoccupied. You're interested too, right?" _

_Zexion sighed for a moment and looked away, "I simply want to concentrate on my assignment. You too should concentrate on your real mission and collect more members. We must hurry with the preparations for our new quarters... 11 Organization members is not enough." _

_"For our new HQ…" Xigbar thought about it for a moment. "Oh, Castle Oblivion, right? What does Xemnas hope to achieve by using that?" _

_"We've been told that-" Xigbar cut off Zexion in mid-sentence. _

_"Maybe it's because there's another reason, one we haven't been told about. With the 'Room of Sleep' comes the 'Room of Awakening', the other place. That's the one he's seeking out; the one he didn't make. Perhaps that is where the other... 'friend' is." _

Amaterasu placed the memory sphere down, shuddering slightly at the mention of Xehanort. '_We have to place the sphere that holds the Dark Master in there within the 'Room of Sleep'. Where is that place though?_' she thought to herself looking back at Lightning for a moment, maybe she had an idea, but sadly the Heartless had no idea, not even a clue as to where they should even begin to look. '_The king probably knows though,_' Amaterasu thought to herself. She looked back at the girl who was wearing pink; she had been knocked out about ten minutes ago, courtesy of Lightning. "Aren't you hot in these?" the girl asked Lightning, referring to the hooded coats.

"Aren't you?" she asked, pulling her hood down for a while. "I don't see why I have to… Ah… Yeah, Riku." The blue eyed Heartless said. She shook her head for a moment. "That was pretty insensitive, what you did Amaterasu. You forced her heart to forget about you." Amaterasu moved around for a moment fidgeting with the sleeve of her coat.

"I had to… I can't feel culpable now, but she would've made it a lot harder if she knew who I was." Amaterasu said looking back at Kairi for a moment. It made her stomach churn knowing that she would have to infect her heart with darkness. '_It must hurt, when the darkness takes over something that pure…_' her mind was getting the better of her; again more guilt was setting into the factor. '_Sora must be worried, and Riku too…_'

"Listen, focus on what's important," Lightning said noticing the pained expression on the young girl. "You have to get that Keyblade back." Amaterasu clenched her fist for a moment, remembering she lost it by the train station.

Right now where they hid was back in the Twilight Town Manor, no one ever came up there anymore, since there were rumors that the place was haunted, and Amaterasu and Lightning made sure it stayed that way for now. They were in the downstairs computer room, and to Amaterasu it brought back a distant memory. '_This is where Leana found us…_' she thought back to the deceased Chaser. '_I fought hard to protect that sphere, and now here I am working for her side…_'

"There is one way for me to get a new Keyblade." Amaterasu said, not really sure if she should mention it to the Heartless or not. She became hesitant for a moment or two, "but that would mean plunging my heart further into the darkness." Lightning looked at her for a moment, not really sure of how to react to it. "I won't lose my heart, because I won't make any mistakes, but…"

"It's easier said than done, right?" Lightning finished the girl's sentence. Amaterasu nodded in agreement. "You have your light, so it shouldn't be that hard for you, is that correct?" Amaterasu shrugged for a moment. "Or is guilt starting to weigh you down?" Lightning said and just sighed, trying to say something that would prove to have, to some degree, as a moral booster. "You're a very strong girl, to still believe that things will be all right, when it doesn't seem like it…"

"That's called being ignorant…" Amaterasu said frowning slightly. "Or just plain old optimism, but I don't believe that…" the girl yawned for a moment, and just slumped against the wall of the old manor. "I'm gonna sleep for a while…"

**_Ut vos ingredior profundus in lux lucis… _**

_A voice from above caught the attention of the girl below. She looked up, and then back down for a moment noticing that she was standing on a platform. There was nothing on the platform, the whole thing was just grey. 'When you walk deeper into the light…' the girl thought still not daring to move. _

**_Ut vos ingredior profundus in obscurum… _**

_'When you walk deeper into the darkness…' the voice was directing her somewhere, she just didn't know where. Everything around her felt cold. "But this is just a dream, right?" she asked herself looking around. Above her were dark clouds, and below her feet was a platform of some sort. Around the platform there was mist, she must be way up high. _

**_Adversus elementum grows validus… _**

_"The opposite element grows stronger…" the girl looked around for a moment feeling a cold wind push her forward. At the moment her foot made contact with the platform once again a very bright light filled the platform, and the girl covered her eyes for a moment. The sound of caws, coos, and the fluttering noise of wings caught her attention. Her whole being was set agape, watching doves and crows fly away from the light, and into the darkness. Several feathers fell from their display adorning the platform for a while, before the wind picked them up, and carried them for a short time, far away from the girl. _

**_Is est vestri secundus vicis , ut vos have adeo vestri suscitatio…_**

_"This is your second time, that you have come to your awakening…" she reiterated what the voice from up above had said. The platform became a stain glass area of some sort. The image of a dark sleeping figure was adorned in stain glass, and in back of the sleeping figure was a castle of some sort. The girl walked forward to where a beam of light was waiting for her. The light disappeared and as if by magic, stained glass steps materialized showing her the way to the next platform. _

**_Illic est haud verto tergum… _**

_As the girl stepped forward on to the steps she noticed she seemed farther and farther away from the platform. 'There's no turning back now…' the girl thought as she ran up the steps. The platform gave an image of a white castle, with a symbol of a familiar mouse head in the middle, like a crest of some sort. _

**_Vos quondam lautus in lux lucis… _**

_'I did once bathe in the light…' she looked up in the direction of where the voice was coming from. 'But that was a long time ago…' she jumped back feeling the ground beneath her feet shake. Three grey colored pillars held weapons, a shield, sword, and a staff with a weird shape. _

**_Quis vadum vos exsisto vestri refero pro telum? _**

_"I pick…" she walked around the area of the three platforms and thought long a hard for what she wanted to pick. The girl felt her hands lightly touch the sword, and she gripped the handle, pulling it off from the platform. _

**_Sumo puteus_**…

_"I know that I have to pick carefully…I pick the power of the warrior!" the girl said letting her voice be heard. The sword was designed with a Heartless enigma etched on to the hilt. The voice boomed out loudly in her mind. _

**_Vox of proeliator. Invincible virtus. A mucro of atrox ruina… _**

_The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction… The sword disappeared in a small puff of smoke, somewhere it made a home within the girl's heart. She looked back at the last two items, the shield and the staff. _

**_Iam , quis mos vos redono in verto? _**

_Now, what do you give up in exchange? The girl went over to the shield. She had no need for the power to protect, besides what else was there to protect, in her mind she found nothing to protect… _

**Yen Sid's Tower **

"Several sphere's where stolen earlier this day." The old master of the king said, in a rather serious tone. Riku and Sora looked at each for a moment, and then back at the king. They didn't know what to say. "It appears that a Heartless broke into here, I found footprints within the room, and the scent that they have loomed within the room." Sora spoke up.

"Do you know which spheres were taken, Master Yen Sid?" Sora asked looking at the old teacher directly in the eyes. "I cannot find the one that was acquired in Sunset Horizon." The others felt their eyes widen for a moment at the mention of it. "So then, the Heartless acted out the action…" the king said looking away for a moment. Just when he had finally gotten his sphere it was snatched from him again, and another memory was lost to the darkness.

"I have tried to come in to contact with the other Princesses of Heart, but I cannot seem to find them now. Their presence has left us… so to speak." Yen Sid said acknowledging that fact.

"What about Kairi?!" Sora asked frantically. He didn't want to lose her again; he promised her that he would protect her. "She is still here." the old and highly revered man said, "so do not fret for now. It'd be best to go and look for her, and no doubt the spheres will also be found." Sora felt his heartbeat return to normal once again, but still he did worry about her. "Sora, it'd be best if you went with the King, along with Donald and Goofy, and continued the search, there's something I need to discuss with Riku." Riku looked back at Sora and nodded.

As soon as the door closed in back of them Yen Sid told Riku to sit down. '_It's usually bad thing when they ask you to sit down…_' the boy thought thinking back to all the times adults had delivered bad news to him like this. '_Please don't let it be about Amaterasu…_' he begged himself, but for some reason he knew something was going to happen. A furry creature landed on his lap. '_That's right I asked the Shadow Hound to help me look for Amaterasu…_' he thought back to what had happened a while back. "Listen, Master Yen Sid, can you answer me this question…?" Yen Sid looked at the boy. "Amaterasu… is she here?" Yen Sid nodded slightly.

"About the girl," Yen Sid said placing both hands on the table. "Riku, there is no doubt in my mind that you know she is the Dark Princess." Riku nodded remembering that day in Sunset Horizon. "The **_Atrum Procer_** ," Yen Sid referring the title given to her. "You have been chosen by her to be the next Dark Master of the Keyblades, and somehow there's no escaping destiny, I'm sure you are fully aware of that." Riku again nodded, and felt the little furry creature make itself comfortable on his lap. "There is a small issue with the **_Atrum Procer_**."

"What's wrong with, Amaterasu?" Riku asked worriedly. '_Please be all right Amaterasu, I begging you with all my heart._' Yen Sid noticed the looked of concern on the boy's face, he didn't know whether he should tell the boy. "She was once part of the darkness…" Riku shifted uncomfortably in his chair, and the smaller form of the Shadow Hound growled in annoyance for a moment. "I know that…" Riku said trying not to let his emotions get the best of him. "The darkness, it never really leaves you. In this case, this is all the young girl knows, this was how she was raised. The king and I had reason to believe that she is siding with the Heartless." Yen Sid noticed that Riku looked away for a moment.

'_The cherry blossoms…_' the boy thought back to when the Neo Shadows appeared. '_She smelled like cherry blossoms, but no… She can't be…_' Yen Sid sighed for a moment and looked away from the boy. "Between what she knows and what she wants, I'm afraid her heart is torn apart by those two decisions." Riku tore his gaze away, not wanting to let the words sink in. "You said earlier that you found her Keyblade, it buys Sora and King Mickey some time, before Kairi's heart is taken away."

"You're telling me she…?" Riku couldn't finish his sentence. "She can't do that… She wouldn't do that, we're her friends." Yen Sid felt some twinge of pain enter his heart, strumming a sad chord in his old heart. The old mage cleared his throat. "The further she wanders into the darkness, the harder is becomes to hear the voice of reason. She knows how to use to darkness, but I'm afraid she wouldn't want to give it up, that's all she knows…"

Riku thought back to the younger figure. '_Could that have been her?_' he thought to himself gently stroking the fur of the small creature, it rested on his lap. "If Sora finds Kairi, that means that she's there too…?" the powerful mage nodded. "I want to find her before Sora gets to her." Yen Sid looked down at the creature on Riku's lap. "Her Keyblade holds part of the solution." He said, as the Shadow Hound let out an unearthly bark, something of happiness. "And that's your other half."

"Maybe I can still reach her…" the boy said sounding a bit hopeful. "Hopefully she will respond to your voice." Yen Sid said adding to the problem. "She might try and block you out of her mind, to prevent any more pain from eating away at her heart."

"I won't let her…" Riku said placing the Shadow Hound on the floor. "But if she does, I'll have to do the same, as much as it pains me." He said holding out the girl's keychain. '_Why? I don't want to lose you, Amaterasu. But if you block me out from your heart, what am I to do?_' The Shadow Hound grew in size, back to its original form and inhaled the scent surrounding the girl's keychain. "Good luck, Riku." Yen Sid watching the boy and the hound leave from the room.

The Shadow Hound summoned a dark portal, and waited for Riku to walk into it. Though as Riku was about to set foot into the portal several Heartless appeared. "Give me a break!" Riku yelled angrily pulling out 'Way to Dawn' and using 'One Winged Angel'. The rage within his heart did all the talking as he decapitated several Heartless, and flung lifeless bodies with the motion of the Keyblades. '_Dark Aura…_' he said pointing one Keyblade to a Heartless, and a ball of dark aura collided with the creature, sending a shockwave through the body.

_'Use this technique…'_ the Heartless within him said, it could feel the rage and despair clouding the boys heart. '_Dark Dance…_' Riku thought letting a dark aura surround his body for a moment. He moved quickly to one Heartless and stabbed the Heartless in the chest, and tossed the other Keyblade towards another Heartless, watching the body twitch slightly, giving the last indication of pain. The boy pulled out the Keyblade and zipped past several Heartless, paralyzing them with another shockwave, he trusted his weapon to the ground and the opponents stopped moving. With both Keyblades now back in his possession he sliced through Heartless like if they were paper, sending pain through each creature as the Keyblades only lingered within their bodies for a couple of second. A couple of Heartless moved back, but the boy didn't give them a chance to retreat as he sliced their heads clean off their neck. With the last Heartless down Riku felt the energy within him slip away. He panted for a moment and looked back at the Shadow Hound, it waited patiently for the boy to come back. "Yeah… Let's get going…" he said finally making his way through the portal.

**Twilight** **Town**** Manor **

"Amaterasu, I'm begging you, please don't do this!" Kairi said backing away from the girl. A strange looking Keyblade appeared in the girl's hand. It looked almost similar to Riku's Keyblade 'Way to Dawn'. "Why are you siding with the Heartless?" she asked demanding to know. Lightning stood a distance away from the two. "Just shut up, please…" the girl begged Kairi to keep quiet. "Maybe with your heart we can finally rid the world of the Dark Keyblade Master."

"The darkness is just using you!" Kairi said understanding somehow where the girl was coming from. "If you go through with the plan you'll lose us all!" Kairi felt a wall against her back; she had no more room to move. "Think of Sora… Think of Riku!" Amaterasu stopped for a moment looking back at Kairi in disbelief. "Please Amaterasu, come on, we can beat the Dark Master some other way."

"Don't you get it, without your heart we can't awake him. We can't hurt him while he's in the sphere!" Amaterasu said angrily. '_Don't waste time explaining this to the girl!_' the Heartless yelled at her. "I know they're going to look for you…" the girl said snapping her fingers, and Neo Shadows appeared. "Block all the entrances to this room." She commanded the Heartless and they obeyed. "Just think about it, please!" Kairi began to plead with her again.

Amaterasu couldn't take it anymore, she wanted the noise to just end. '_Do it! NOW!_' the Heartless yelled out in her mind, and the girl just couldn't stand the noise in her head. Within moments she found herself panting heavily, and looked at the sight in front of her. Kairi's eyes grew dim, and still the Princess of Heart managed to smile at Amaterasu. "You're doing… what you think… is right… and… I forgive… you…" the darkness began to take control of the princess' heart. Amaterasu pulled the Keyblade out of Kairi's chest, and felt tears slightly run down to the side of her face. '_I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I am so sorry Kairi…_'

"Amaterasu…" Lightning spoke out softly, noticing the girl toss her newly acquired Keyblade to the floor of the old manor. Amaterasu looked back at the Heartless with tears around her eyes, she couldn't see that well. "Why Lightning, why?" she couldn't help but ask her blue eyed Heartless companion. Lightning sighed for a moment and walked towards the girl. The girl held her companion as tight as she could, sobbing hysterically, not caring at all what the Heartless thought of her. "She finally remembered who I was… and I had to go and do that…" Amaterasu managed to blurt out.

"Amaterasu…" Lighting said with her own sincere voice. '_I understand know, what she meant when she said she would give me a heart. She meant her friendship, which awakens a heart, even for someone like me…_' Lightning hugged the girl for a while, stroking the back of her head. "I know you're sorry, but that won't bring her back…" she said. "Once Sora and Riku defeat the Dark Master once and for all, she'll come back…"

"But what if she hates me?" Amaterasu asked whining about it. "She did say that she did forgive you." Lightning said remembering the last words the girl managed to mutter out.

"But why would she say that?" the girl asked, her voice was muffled by the fabric that the blue eyed Heartless, Lightning, wore.

"She still believes that you can change…" the Heartless said looking down at the girl. Amaterasu shook her head and felt more tears, run down the side of her face. It didn't seem possible, for Kairi to forgive her that easily. '_Why'd she have to go and smile at me like that?_' the girl thought, thinking back to that moment. "I hate emotions like this…" the girl said coldly, still feeling tears fall. "You know what else…? Out of all the people on that island, he fell in love with me…"

Lightning tried to calm her down, but it was of no use right now. Amaterasu withdrew herself from Lightning's comforting embrace, and sat in a corner. The girl held out a gloved hand, and her new Keyblade reappeared in her grasp. She called it 'Way to Night'. Lightning noticed that some had fallen to the ground where Kairi 'slept'. The keychain had a paopu fruit design on it. '_Kairi's?_' she thought picking up the item. '_If they do come looking for us, they'll probably want this back too…_' Amaterasu breathed in for a moment, and looked back at the body that slumped to the side. '_We should probably leave now… It's for the better._' The girl thought closing her eyes.

"Are you ready to leave now?" the Heartless asked, Amaterasu didn't notice the item she held in her hand. The girl opened her eyes slowly, looking faintly at the person in front of her, and she nodded vaguely. Amaterasu stood up and dusted the dust off of her black coat, she looked back at Kairi, and at that point she knew that guilt wouldn't leave her alone until she cracked, or something else escalated. Amaterasu placed a gloved hand heavily on the wall, breathing in deeply. '_Riku… Sora… I'm sorry you two, I really am,_' with that lost thought a portal opened and Amaterasu walked into it. "Get Kairi for me, please, Lightning." Her voice disappeared into the darkness.

Lightning made sure that Amaterasu was deep within the portal, and she pulled out a little note containing her own handwriting. '_It was a good thing she took some time getting her new Keyblade…_' the Heartless thought placing the note in a noticeable area, and on top of that she placed Kairi's keychain. '_I should get going, but I am sorry about this Amaterasu, but it's for you own good,_' with that the Heartless picked up the last Princess of Heart and took her through the portal. "Wait…" Lightning said to herself feeling around in the last pocket, "the little device…" she went back and placed the blue musical device on top of the note and keychain.

"Are you coming?" Amaterasu's voice could be heard echoing through the pathway of the darkness. "Maleficent's going to wonder why we were late." Lightning walked faster, carrying the body of the young princess. Lightning looked to the side of her and felt the presence of the portal disappear, it was a good thing that she left those three items on there. '_This isn't the Amaterasu I know now. She's changed so much because of the darkness. If this it what it truly does to people, I don't want to have a heart now. It's so easily taken in by the darkness, even though she tried as carefully as she could not to fall in to it, but even she was lying to herself. Maybe if Riku does want to get you back he'll follow us, but only if he does truly care for you…_' Lightning's thoughts echoed through her mind, and again she felt something beat where her heart was. '_I haven't felt my heart beat, I want to be human, I want to feel, there's a lot of things I haven't felt yet…_'

Amaterasu was glad to get out of the portal finally seeing the gummi dock in full view. She breathed in the calm air, strange though a moment ago she could still sense the presence of more Heartless around the air, but they seemed to vanish as quickly as they came. '_Sora probably got to them…_' she thought shaking her head for a moment. '_You keep asking yourself why you're doing this, and you still haven't given yourself an answer. Do you enjoy doing all of this, Amaterasu?_' her other voice asked, the question echoing through her troubled heart. The girl looked back and noticed Lightning coming through the dark portal, and dark wisps seemed to skim across the surface of the body of the human looking Heartless. "I'll pilot the ship this time," Amaterasu said noticing Lightning take a step forward.

**Manor's basement **

This was the last room Riku hadn't searched through, and he had hoped that he would find the person he was looking for, but sadly he had come in at a late time. '_But she was here…_' Riku thought watching the Shadow Hound sniff the areas that smelled like its previous owner. It barked at a little note that was placed on top of the broken computer chair. The silver haired teen walked over to the hound and picked up the note, taking into possession the mp3 device, and a keychain with a distinct shape of a star. The hound strolled around the area and it barked at a wall, and scratched the area, whining a bit. Its ears drooped in confusion and possibly in unhappiness. '_They're intelligent creatures… Funny though that's how I'm feeling alone, confused and unhappy,_' the boy began to frown slightly. '_That means Kairi's gone too…_' he thought looking back at the keychain.

"No luck, huh boy?" Riku asked the Shadow Hound as it began to whine again at the empty surface on that certain wall. It walked up close to Riku and brushed it strange shaped body against the boy's leg, like a cat of some sort. "Yeah I feel the same way…" Riku said patting the creature on the head. '_Never thought I'd be talking to an animal…_' he thought sighing for a moment. He clutched the newly acquired items for a moment, holding sentimental value to each. The turquoise eyes scanned the top cover of the note, as it was folded in half. '_I should probably…_' he felt his fingers slowly undo the fold, but his momentum was gone when the hound began to bark loudly at the door in back of them.

Riku placed a hand over the hound and it held its voice a bit longer, and growled when the door gave way to the force that opened it. A familiar figure dressed in black clothing stepped out, with spiky brown hair and those curious blue eyes. He looked tried and battle worn, with scratches against his cheeks, and cuts on his legs, a bruise or two on both of his arms. The boy by the name of Sora looked at the boy and the hound, and the Shadow Hound wagged its tail happily noticing its new master in plain sight. Sora gave a weak wave, and looked around hoping to find the girl with the red wine colored hair. Riku walked over apologetically and handed the brunette haired boy the paopu shaped keychain. There the silver haired boy noticed that a recognizable figure step into view as well, King Mickey looked worn out, taking a moment or two to catch his breath. '_This is Kairi's Keyblade…_' Sora thought sadly looking down at the item he now held in his hand.

"She's gone…" Riku said looking down at the ground. At this position he felt like there was nothing he could say to Sora, but only that he understood how he must have felt, because the silver haired teen had lost someone precious to him as well. Multiple apologies would not be enough to make things seem like they would be all right, and even Sora knew that.

"Damn it!" Sora yelled angrily. The Shadow Hound steered clear of the new master's intense emotion at this moment. The brunette teen cursed loudly at the figures who stole Kairi, which also meant that they had taken her heart, to be preyed upon by the darkness. The hound moved further and further away from Sora's words, and felt its paws come across another area of the basement setting. It had a couple of machines so at least the objects would occupy space within the empty room. Riku stood by King Mickey trying to deal with the royal mouse's wounds, but the king said that Sora needed medical care more than he did. The cuts on his legs had not ceased, from dripping blood down the sides of his legs. "I'll get them…" Sora said meaning every word of it, and the king and the boy with the turquoise eyes looked at one another with concern.

Riku had finished casting a Curaga spell on the 'chosen one' and Sora relaxed for a moment. "Listen Sora…" Riku finally spoke up, after addressing the younger teen's wounds, blue eyes stared at him, "I'm sorry…" Sora looked away for a moment shrugging as he felt the uneasiness of the subject of the apology. "Why are you sorry?" Sora asked finally looking at his friend. Riku shrugged in reply, he felt as though it was something to say, to provide his younger friend some comfort, since Sora felt downtrodden. "It's okay though…" Sora said softly, loud enough for Riku to hear. The silver haired teen heard the brunette's reply and he noticed the tinge of pain used in his words, and it was something Riku could relate to.

"I know how you feel," the silver haired teen said thinking back to the girl he had watched leave. His heart felt like it began to grow cold, at the mention of the thought. The whole feeling was something he would gladly want to leave behind. "You don't…" Sora began to speak but he felt Riku's hands thrust him against the wall of the room, the brunette struggled against the strength of the future 'Dark Master'. "Don't you ever say that, Sora…" the teen said harshly, his eyes bearing down on the spiky haired boy, and Sora growled pushing Riku off of him. King Mickey couldn't do anything, but at the same time he didn't want anything to escalate from the confrontation. The king still wasn't able to tell the boys about Amaterasu and her current 'project'.

"I _do_ know how you feel. She… Look someone I care about has been taken away from me," Riku said, and Sora eyed him carefully. "Amaterasu wasn't…" Sora started to speak but paused for a moment watching the nervous look in his friend's eyes. As Riku was about to speak and unearthly bark echoed throughout the area, and the three of them looked in the direction it came from. King Mickey went to the source of the noise in a quick stride and stopped suddenly noticing something that caught his attention. Sora went in and his inner mind couldn't have been happier due to the figure that stood there. At that point Sora felt his inner self take control, and felt the arms from his body warp around the figure. "Naminé…" Roxas said worriedly feeling the figure wrap her arms around the frame of Sora's Nobody.

"Kairi… She was taken…" Naminé said with a sudden tone of sadness that could only be called genuinely sincere.

Riku stopped in the doorway and noticed the note within his grasp. '_That's right…_' the word 'Riku' was written on the top, in somebody else's handwriting. '_Who wrote it?_' he asked himself in his mind, the handwriting didn't seem recognizable to him. He felt his fingers again run through the middle fold and finally saw the words in front of his eyes as he unfolded the parchment. '_This isn't Amaterasu's handwriting, hers is small this one is…_'

_'Dear Riku, _

_I don't have much time since I don't when she'll wake up from her second 'awakening'. I'm writing to you in a hurry so sorry if there are some parts that you can't read that well, and I apologize. Enough with this though. It's about your friend, the one you call 'Amaterasu'. ' _

"I didn't see the figure's faces…" Naminé's voice could be heard from the area. She was explaining to the three of them what had happened.

_'I fear for the safety of her heart, and no doubt that you do as well. She still feels guilt, but that's something that the darkness forces into the heart to make the control stronger, which means her heart is very fragile so to speak. I don't know who long she'll be able to keep this whole 'game' up.'_

"Who did she say sorry to?" Roxas' voice could be heard after Naminé explained bits and pieces of it all.

_'She's already broken down with having to capture the girl named Kairi. You should've seen her Riku, it made my eyes fill with tears to the point where I couldn't see that well. Riku I know you care for her deeply, I heard the two of you on the gummi ship the day before we left. Please I'm begging you Riku please, help her. She's your light, and you are hers, she doesn't want to lose you but I'm afraid she's made a mistake in her effort in trying to avoid the darkness.' _

"All I know was that she had a new Keyblade. She called it 'Way to Night'. It looked just likes Riku's but more Heartless looking with a little demonic wing at the tip. You know how Riku's looks like. But anway she…" Naminé began to speak again.

_'She needs her light… she needs you. I want you to understand that. She's been saying that she'd doing this so that maybe you won't be the next Dark Master of the Keyblades, but… I don't know about that, all I know is that she needs you, so please, please help her. I want Night to finally meet with Dawn… _

_From the Heartless, _

_Lightning' _

Riku's hands trembled for a moment rereading the letter for the second time. '_Amaterasu… What the hell are you doing?_' he asked his mind trying to think of an answer for her actions. '_This won't help anyone… In fact I might lose you because of that stunt you're tying to pull…_' He looked back at the name of who it was written by. '_Does that mean she's been able to find your heart, Lightning?_' Riku felt some sort of joy, but it quickly died as fast as it came. Right now the letter troubled him, he felt fear creep somewhere in his heart, making a temporary stay there till the end came. '_Where do I find you Amaterasu…_?'

_We'll meet up again some day…Besides since you are what you are… You're always going to keep finding me, no matter where I go. We're connected by our hearts, and our destiny… _

"I told her that…" Riku said softly to himself. Naminé continued to talk while the king and the person before them, which was Roxas, they all listened to the information.

**R i k u **

I'm going to find her; I don't care about how long it takes. I want to find her and I want to help Sora save Kairi. I just don't know where to begin. At times I feel like I'm still just a kid, and that I can't do anything. I want to help her, I want too, so badly that it just hearts my heart. Sora hasn't been taking this to well, about Kairi's heart being stolen. I still haven't been able to tell him about Amaterasu yet; I don't know how he's going to take it. I know for me it's going to catch up to me in the long run.

I handed Naminé a familiar item, Kairi's Keyblade. "This time I'll be the one fighting alongside you guys…" she said softly, watching the Keyblade take shape. Sora finally got control of his body back from his Nobody, and he nodded to Naminé. I'm still impressed with how quickly the two of them were able to master it. I looked back at King Mickey, I know he wanted to tell Sora about Amaterasu, and he has a feeling that I already know about her. '_Yeah no thanks to Yen Sid…_' I thought angrily. I should've left quickly, but no I decided to stay to find out about her. I looked around and I couldn't find the Shadow Hound. I went into the area where it found Naminé, and I found a little ball of black fur curled up in a corner. "Hey…" I said.

Its ears perked up slightly and it jumped up yipping slightly. It was in a smaller form, which was more appealing to the eyes. The other form made it look like it came straight from hell or something. '_And she called them cute…_' I still didn't know what made them 'cute' as she calls them. It's probably the fact that they're intelligent, I'm guessing that's the only thing they have going for them. I felt a weird sensation on my hand and I jumped back looking at the Shadow Hound lick my hand for a moment. '_Yeah I guess they are a bit okay…_' I thought feeling the hound nudge against me for comfort once again. "You miss her a lot don't you?" I asked the creature, patting the top of its head.

"Where's Donald and Goofy?" I heard Naminé and King Mickey cleared his throat. "They're out in the font…" the royal mouse said I as I stepped into their view. "You ready then?" King Mickey asked me. I nodded, and I also made sure that I kept the mp3 device and the note hidden from their sight. I don't want them to know what I got from Lightning. '_I'm going to find you. I promise myself that…_' I thought to myself was we all walked up the stairs into the middle floor of the manor.

**A m a t e r a s u **

I muttered a couple of rather hateful things to myself. I can't take this anymore, but then there's that same question 'why are you doing it?'. To be completely honest I don't know why I still do what it is I'm doing. I'm starting to think I'm just doing it because I want to belong, because this is my comfort zone. I'm not ready to move on. It reminds me of that flower from Elusion-Ilusion. It'd die if it wasn't in its natural environment, but somehow I know Riku's kept that blue flower alive, with Donald's help. I gripped the controls of the gummi ship for a moment, letting the ship dip a bit to avoid an asteroid. Lightning was resting in the back of the ship, she's been tired out, poor thing.

Kairi's somewhat responding body is by one of the ship's seats. I just can't stand it though; the scent of that pure smell, something in me just wants to get rid of her. '_I can't stand pure things… Neither can you…_' my little voice said softly. About twenty something years ago that might have been true, but now that I think about it, I don't really think so. I miss having a somewhat normal life, like when I met Riku. '_I'd give anything to go back to those days…_' I thought to myself feeling tears form around my eyes. '_No…_' I felt my hand wipe away the tears before they came down. So far the ride back to Maleficent's new castle was going smoothly, that and because Heartless ships won't attack a ship of their very own, it's only common knowledge.

For a moment I felt something jab at my heart. I haven't felt that in so long. '_He's probably around the area…_' I thought to myself setting up the scanning units to detect any ships within a 450 mile radius. These parts were considered illegal to many of the gummi ship manufacturers. Though right now it doesn't really matter, no gummi ship specialists are here, so we're safe from that for right now. So far nothing showed up on the scanners. '_It's just my head playing tricks on me then…_' I sighed for a moment and decided it was better to get a move on. Maleficent wouldn't want me getting there late, only the deities know what treatment she would give me.

'_Just another 30 minutes…_' I thought to myself sighing again. For the moment I enjoyed the silence it was the only comfort I had. I couldn't exactly talk to Kairi, and Lightning, well she's been melancholy looking since we got back to the ship. '_I wonder what a Heartless feels… Maybe her hearts starting to wake up… I hope so. That's the only promise I'd probably finish in person,_' I thought to myself setting the gummi ship on autopilot for a moment. My hands were starting to ache a bit. I took the gloves off of them and looked at them for a moment. '_They hurt so much…_' I rubbed them for a moment. For some reason I just couldn't contain my thoughts, a lot of things were running around. I felt confused for some reason. But why?

'_I miss him so much…_' that was the only thing becoming clear in my mind. I didn't want to forget him, I didn't, and… I don't want him to forget about me. '_Riku…_' my heart was racing every time I thought of him. Still those words that he told me, somehow they sunk into my heart, and it'll be something I'll never forget. Those words gave me hope, but I don't know about what they will do for the current situation at hand.

_We'll meet up again some day…Besides since you are what you are… You're always going to keep finding me, no matter where I go. We're connected by our hearts, and our destiny… _

**Maleficent's ****new castle**

"The last Princess of Heart," Maleficent said sounding pleased with the outcome. Kairi's heartless body was placed against the side of a couple of columns. Amaterasu and Lightning stood in front of the witch giving them a small report of what had happened. "Another Keyblade?" Maleficent asked intrigued by this fact. Amaterasu recounted the tale once again to the mistress of all evil and darkness.

With that the witch dismissed them, and whatever Kairi's fate was, well it didn't seem that pleasant. The young princess would be shipped into a transporter, sort of like she was cargo or something, and transported to this sort of underground laboratory somewhere in the deserts of Sunset Horizon. There she would be placed with the rest of the other 6 Princesses of Heart. "I'm sorry…" Amaterasu said as they walked out into the hallway of the castle that once belonged to Princess of Aurora.

Lightning noticed the sour look placed on her 'client' and couldn't help but feel like she needed to do something. '_I should try and cheer her up…_' the Heartless scanned every corner of her mind for something that would get her to cheer up. '_Ice-cream… what was it she liked?_' Lightning looked around for a moment and couldn't think of anything for that small millisecond in time. '_Think…_' she fumbled around with the crimson scarf that hung loosely around her neck. "Sea-salt…" Lighting remembered the ice-cream flavor now. "Amaterasu…" she called out to the troubled girl. The girl looked back at her with rather depressed dark brown eyes. "Listen…" Lightning began with some genuine feeling backing up the little sentence she would say to the girl. "You want to get some ice-cream?" she asked.

"Ice-cream…?" Amaterasu asked cautiously. Hoping that it wasn't a trick question for a moment, "sure…" the girl said not really feeling anything towards the whole idea. The two of them stopped and noticed a raven hover about the two of them It held a note tied to one of its talons. Amaterasu raised her hand slowly and the raven landed on her palm. The girl untied the note and read it carefully, she growled for a moment in annoyance. "Damn it that…!" she yelled at the mistress of evil and darkness, cursing any word imaginable. "I hate her!" the girl said finally noticing she hit the side of the wall with her new Keyblade. "Damn her…" she said breaking into sobs, "fuck…" she muttered slumping back and crumpling the note.

_After the two of you have rested up to the point where you feel like you can fight, there's another order I need the two of you to carry out. Within the gummi ship you will find these little cases, these 'black boxes' so to speak. I want you to place them within the gummi dock of several worlds. A sort of 'welcoming' for our new 'Master'. Whichever world you decide on, it does not matter. Just let it be known that I expect the two of you to return no later than two weeks. _

That was what the note contained, and Lightning read it as well after Amaterasu cursed at the women who wrote it. '_We'll have to put the ice-cream on hold then…_' the Heartless thought sighing for a moment. Still the letter did prove to hold some time for some sort of activity. "To the point where you can feel like you can fight…" Lightning said looking up from the letter to the girl who withdrew her Keyblade. Amaterasu placed a smile of some sort, glad to hear that phrase for a moment. "I guess I have some time… I'm emotionally incapable of fighting…" Amaterasu said thinking about if for a moment. "I guess I'll take you up on the ice-cream offer." She said pulling Lightning along side her now.

"I want you to go see him…" Lightning said softly as they reach the outside walls of the castle. Amaterasu looked at the Heartless as if she were crazy. "Please Amaterasu it would do you some good, as a friend. I'm begging you to go and see him. Just for a little while. I'll cover for you, please…" Amaterasu didn't know what to say. Her mind just screaming at her to answer yes, but another voice brought in the doubt that she didn't want to hear. "What if he doesn't want to…? I mean if I was in his shoes I wouldn't want to see me…" the girl said softly, and Lightning hissed at the girl. "That's not the point…" the Heartless said softly. "He loves you…"

"You heard…?" there was a blush of embarrassment that lightly touched her cheeks. Amaterasu looked down at the ground for a moment and didn't know what to say at that point. "I…" she couldn't think of anything to say. "Love him too… But I can't…" the Heartless rolled her blue eyes and Amaterasu flinched slightly feeling something hit the back of her head. Amaterasu rubbed the spot where Lightning had hit her. The two of them walked through the desolate area, watching Heartless run around again. There was nothing for them to prey upon since all the inhabitants were now devoid of their hearts. In the distance by the summit of a grassy green hill stood a church or some sort. The bells from the holy building filled the area within an earshot radius. Amaterasu looked at the birds that covered the roof of the church. '_Only ravens…_' the girl thought frowning for a moment as the two of them walked down the area.

"So…" Lightning began to make some conversation. "You want sea-salt right?" as the last rolled off her tongue Amaterasu blinked for a moment. "Something wrong?" she asked, looking at the younger girl for a moment. Amaterasu shook her head and forced a smile in delight of the idea. "You want to eat it at the church?" the girl nodded for a moment. "You…" Amaterasu began to speak for a moment, "you read my mind…" she said smiling for a moment.

The towns held almost no life within them, everything was lost to the Heartless, but several places far from the castle were untouched. Several food industries remained untouched by the darkness, but it soon wouldn't be like that. Amaterasu was glad that some people were able to function, if only for a little while longer. The girl watched as the Heartless paid for the two ice-creams, and they quickly found themselves by the entrance of the sacred area. The church, many said it was a miracle that the Heartless didn't destroy the building from within. Amaterasu sat at the foot of the stairs, over looking the dark area of where the Heartless had taken over. '_This is all wrong…_' she thought taking a lick of the frozen treat. As the girl bit down Lightning noticed the tears, falling from her own cheeks and Amaterasu paused for a moment watching the Heartless shed tears.

**Radiant** **Garden**

Riku sighed for a moment, and stared up at the sky from this world. '_It's been a couple of months now,_' the boy thought gripping the mp3 device for a moment. A band by the name of 'Shiny toy Guns' played loudly in one of the ear pieces as he had the other one off of his ear. The Shadow Hound looked around for a moment, sniffing areas from the ravine, no doubt that the Heartless had come back again. '_I wonder what she's doing. No doubt she knows why the Heartless have started showing up once again…_' Sora and Naminé were calling him over to another area. Riku looked back and noticed Amaterasu's older brother walk by him. "It's been pretty hectic but I finally found the 'Room of Sleep'. To think it was hidden underneath the HBRC second HQ…" Yomigami said nudging Riku forward. "Don't worry we'll find her…" the girl's brother said softly to the silver haired teen. The Shadow Hound followed behind Sora and Naminé and off they disappeared into the next area.

Gabriel was no longer with them; he had finally kicked the bucket. Rather it was better to say he took his own life, and Yomigami had been a witness to it all. The effect of never aging was beginning to get to the man with the purple eyes, and so with the last ounce of what he called his 'sanity' he took his life. It was one that similar day that Riku told Yomigami about what had happened to his sister, from what the Heartless Lightning had told him in the letter. A couple of months came and went, with the group going to different worlds, finding more Heartless run amok than when they had been there the last time. The last worlds on the list to clean up were 'The Beast's Castle' and 'Sunset Horizon'. '_To be honest it's been about a year now since I've known her…_' Riku thought for a moment as they made it to the super computer.

"The password… It's Another, Braig, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, and Ienzo…" Yomigami said noticing that Leon was already at the keyboard of the supercomputer. Leon looked up at him suspiciously, and a female took it as her cue to thank Yomigami. "It's no problem, Rinoa…" Yomigami said smiling slightly. "Though the password it's a waste of time without the sphere in our possession…" Riku said coming forward to speak up. The others looked at him, and sighed in despair, the boy did have a point in it. Leon typed in the six passwords, and access was granted. Yomigami thanked the fact that they had captured someone on camera, a year ago, type in the exact same passwords. "I just found worn out battle body armor and a Keyblade…" Yomigami said admitting to the fact that he went down there to the 'Room of Sleep'.

With that everyone had left to do their own things, it was suppose to be a joyful day for finding the six passwords, but it just didn't seem the same without the whole gang now. Yomigami and Riku were outside overlooking the area around them, watching several plots of land that was going to be used for the reconstruction. The Shadow Hound had refused to be placed back within the confinements of the summoning amulet and for now Sora didn't object to it. King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy went on a sort of 'spying' mission to try and locate Amaterasu, to find out where Maleficent's new castle was. Sora and Roxas were teaching Naminé how to fight in their spare time.

Riku now found himself within the home of Merlin. The silver haired teen looked down at the green tea, his reflection staring back at him. His fingers lightly nudged the cream colored cup back and forth, and something caught his eyes. He watched the little fairy people steal Yuffie's sea salt ice-cream, and it brought back a feeling of nostalgia. '_That was the first thing she offered me was sea salt ice-cream because my stomach growled when I met her…_' he felt a sad smile tug at the corner of his mouth. Yuffie looked back at him and frowned for a moment. She didn't like seeing him like this, the ninja was use to seeing him a bit more 'peppy', but then again Yuffie knew that was only when he was around Amaterasu. Shelke Rui stepped into the scene and she opened the door slightly, peeking into the home for a moment, and when she could people within the abode she walked in. To the Great Ninja Yuffie that meant to her that Vincent Valentine wasn't far behind or Nanaki for that matter.

"Riku Fonovi…" Shelke said her amber hair contrasting against her black clothing. She spoke with such formality it was hard to tell at points whether she was being sincere or just plain. To Riku it had been a while since someone addressed him by his full name, he stood up from his chair and walked over to Shelke Rui. Her EM sabers hung loosely around her sides. "Reeve Tuesti is asking for you." She said. "Aw, you have to go, Riku?" Yuffie said a bit disappointed she wanted to cheer up the Keyblade wielder. "I guess so…" Riku said and excused himself from her presence. "Tell Merlin I said thanks for the tea…" with that Shelke led Riku to where Reeve Tuesti was stationed at. "The place we're going at, for the most part is crawling with Heartless," Shelke said her blue eyes staring back at the confused turquoise eyes. "A type of Heartless-bomb was found within the center of the HQ, so soldiers Restoration Committee have been absorbed with the task of fighting them off, so there's a possibly of stray fire." She said leading the boy down the path of where they would be heading to.

A man cloaked in red watched from up above the homes, making sure that the two arrived to the HQ as quickly, and safe as possible. Below an animal with mahogany fur stayed strayed behind, making sure to protect the rear. "You can go…" Vincent said speaking into the microphone that hung by the collar of his cloak. "Understood, Vincent Valentine…" Shelke said, and Vincent noticed that she started to move once again. Riku could sense the presence of the Heartless, and a distinct smell in the air. '_It's the cherry blossoms again,_' he thought trying not to let it get the best of him. "Behind you!" someone yelled out, and Riku summoned his Keyblade, within moments of the yell Riku panted for a moment, watching two Heartless fall to the ground. Shelke looked around the area, and drew out her two EM sabers. "You just keep going straight, Riku Fonovi," she said dashing forward, attacking more Heartless in the front. Riku felt something rush past him, and noticed the tail with flames on it, '_That's Nanaki,_' he thought dodging more oncoming Heartless attacks. He watched a red cloak lay on the ground before his eys, and from the mess of fabric appeared a man with long black hair, '_Vincent,_' he thought hearing the gunshots from his weapon 'Cerberus'. Bullets pierced the flesh of several enemies.

Riku felt something in his mind click, and before he had time to react his whole frame turned black. He ran wildly pulling limbs off of approaching Heartless; the scent of the cherry blossoms brought his mind, back for a while. He stopped and looked around; everything seemed to be in a hazy now. '_Not again,_' he thought looking at the black claws that replaced his hands. He growled feeling helpless again, and that turned into more rage, with that it fueled him to continue his assault on the Heartless that blocked his path to the HQ. Turquoise eyes disappeared from the view of the Heartless, and quickly they felt their bodies begin ripped apart in horrible and almost inhumane manners. The fangs of the humanoid Heartless sunk into the flesh of his enemies, and the Heartless let out horrible screams feeling the pain. Nanaki watched Riku for a moment or two, looking away as the sound of induced wails came from the Heartless. Vincent fired another shot and the bullet pierced the skull of the Heartless, and it collapsed onto the floor. Shelke pulled her EM sabers out from the guts of the two Heartless, and spun around gracefully neatly knocking the heads off of other enemies.

**On the high point of a rooftop **

"It's sick to look at…" Amaterasu said feeling hot liquid rise to the middle point of her throat. She swallowed it down forcefully, and looked away. She never knew that a humanoid Heartless could act so ferociously towards its own kind. '_I wonder if mine does the same thing…?_' she asked her inner mind, but it couldn't provide a good answer. '_I'll just have to find out for myself,_' she thought looking back at Lighting. "I feel bad for them…" Lightning said feeling some sadness touch the tip of her almost complete heart now, her hands lightly touched the edge of the crimson scarf. The scent of the deceased Heartless was getting to the senses of the two of them. "You know they videotaped you." Lighting said informingly. Amaterasu nodded for a moment watching the fight die down from below. "He hasn't noticed your presence yet…" the Heartless said looking back at her 'client'.

"He will soon enough," Amaterasu said flopping back down on the flat roof. Her eyes looked up at the sky of the world. She sighed for a moment and closed her eyes thinking back to the first time she met Riku. "I never told you, did I?" Lighting looked at her a bit perplexed by the question the girl spoke of. "Never told me what?" Lighting couldn't help but ask now. Amaterasu rolled over to her side, to get a better look of the dirty blonde haired Heartless. "How I met him…" she said feeling a sad smile creep up on her lips. Lightning sat up attentively and listened to the tale for once, it was probably going to be the only chance she would get. "My dog Chico…" Amaterasu began to speak of her encounter with the future 'Dark Master of the Keyblades'.

Below the high point, Riku finally made it to Reeve's stationed area, with cuts on his arms, and a bruise on the right calf of his leg. He made it in one piece at least, and that was all that mattered to him. Reeve greeted him and the medical team within the headquarters tended to his wounds quickly. Within a matter of moments the silver haired teen reappeared before Reeve Tuesti. "What did you need to see me for, Mr. Tuesti?" Riku asked as Reeve told him to sit down. Reeve lightly pressed something on the touch screen that was in front of him, and from the projector that was placed within the middle of the table, a beam of light formed a screen. "This…" Reeve said watching the projector play the video footage. Riku watched the screen in front of him, his eyes scanning the footage being played. A young teenager walked around the area, looking for something, and another figure dressed in black held a crafted object like if it were made of glass. Once the object touched the ground it shattered, and within a blink of an eye Heartless appeared around the younger figure. The younger figure pulled their hood down, and the frame froze for a second in Riku's mind. '_Amaterasu…_' he thought watching the footage continue. A dark aura appeared from her hand, and the camera went to a static screen.

"She's been sighted within the walls of this place," Reeve said looking back at Riku; he still couldn't shake the image of what he had seen. "Which means she's been around here for a couple of weeks. I've checked the gummi ship docks, and several ships docked here in Radiant Garden around a three week period. We've been conducting searches, but so far my men haven't been able to find those strange objects, or their ship." Riku's heart jumped for a moment, but when he thought back to all the things that had happened within the various months that ensued, he wasn't sure if he could face her now. Reeve dismissed him, saying that there was another matter he had to attend to, and that he was glad for Yomigami, since he found the password for the 'Room of Sleep'. Riku walked out in a daze, still watching the footage play around in his mind. Shelke, Vincent, and Nanaki had left already, since the place was clear now. Soldiers were lining up to the stationed medical units around the district of the town. Riku walked around the streets in a sort of daze, and found himself slumping against the wall of an alley. He leaned against the wall and found his whole body fall to the ground, he managed to sit up at least.

"Riku…" he looked around hearing someone call out his voice, but just assumed that his mind was playing tricks with him. "Riku!" the voice whispered harshly. He looked up and noticed a figure with a crimson scarf. He felt the corner of his mouth give in to a grin. "She's on the other side…" the Heartless said smiling down at the boy. A dark portal materialized at end of the alleyway. "But I can't face her…" Riku said looking up at the blue eyed Heartless. "It's been too long…" he said looking down for a moment. "I can't face her… Not like this…" Still somehow Riku found his body move towards the portal, something in his nature made him go, just out of curiosity. As he stepped into the portal the scent of the cherry blossoms became stronger, to the point where it gave him a headache.

Light greeted him on the other side, and he covered his eyes slightly. The place was untouched by buildings or Heartless. It looked like a field of some sort, and for once he heard silence, something that was pleasing to his ears. His turquoise eyes scanned the area for the girl he couldn't face, but for some reason he couldn't find her. He walked around the field, and stopped coming to the top of a hill, he rested for a moment, and looked at the bandages that wrapped around his arms. "It's been about half a year now since I last saw her, and it's been tough…" Riku said to himself looking out into the distance. The afternoon sun lightly touched his skin, filling him with natural warmth. A breeze carried the scent of jasmine and other wildflowers, and that same whiff of cherry blossoms. '_She's around here somewhere,_' the silver haired teen thought looking around the area, he turned his head slightly to the side. "Riku…" a soft voice called out to him. He shifted his body so that he could turn around, and he couldn't breathe for a moment. His voice got stuck in his throat, the figure was holding on to a pendant that was on a necklace, his turquoise eyes noticed that tears were staining the cheeks of the figure. "I…" the figure couldn't bring themselves to speak.

**A/N: You know what to do _one_ review please!**


	38. A Vado of Affectus quod

**A/N: I got my 100th review, this calls for a celebration! Thank you so much readers and reviewers, you guys keep my going and going like that battery commercial! **

Sorasheart281: **Aw don't worry I won't make you cry so much, but you're going to love this chapter, I guarantee you, well only the middle part of it. **

Rozen: **It is my lucky day, and yours too, this one is lengthy so enjoy it as much as I did typing this little piece of work! Thank you for being my 100th review/ poster person. **

**My love goes out to all the people who made the 4000+ hits possible, and my loyal reviewers mentioned up above, I love you guys! **

Now on with the story!

**Chapter 38 A Vado of Affectus quod the Atrum Vinco mos Suscitatio **(A Rush of Emotion and the Dark Master will Awaken)

_"I'm going to try and find a way into the 'Room of Sleep'." Amaterasu said looking up at the several streets signs that they walked by. Lightning looked back down at the girl and tried to think of a way to talk her out of it, but it didn't seem likely. _

_"All by yourself?" Lightning asked tilting her head for a moment. She knew that Amaterasu was strong, but to be that strong to get past the King, Sora, and Riku all by herself it seemed like a suicide mission. "I understand why you want to do that, but maybe there is another way…" _

_"As long as darkness continues to exist this cycle will never end, it'll keep going and going, generations and generations to come." Amaterasu said firmly pausing in her walk for a moment. "Maybe in the 'Room of Sleep' I can figure out a way to take the darkness out of my heart, and his…" she was referring to the boy she came to care for. _

_"Are you even sure that possible? How do you know if that's what he wants?" the Heartless asked looking back at the younger girl for a moment. Amaterasu shrugged for a moment and puffed her cheeks for a bit. _

_"That's what my heart thinks… And for some reason I think that's what he wants to. No one wants darkness in their heart, because darkness will expand over a period of time, the greater the light becomes…" _

_"The greater the shadow will be…" Lightning said finishing the sentence for her 'client'. "How do you plan on getting the password?" _

_"I'll think of something…" Amaterasu said pulling out the sphere from the coat's pocket. Lightning gasped in surprise for a moment. _

_"How'd you…?" _

_"I can't tell you," Amaterasu said waving a finger at the Heartless. "Just hope the witch doesn't find out…" somehow the two of them hoped that nothing bad would happen, because of the stunt Amaterasu decided to pull. _

_"All right but you have to go and find Riku," Lightning said in an almost scolding voice. It sounded for like a moment that Lightning was instructing a child. "And no whining." She said to Amaterasu who opened her mouth to protest. "That's final." _

_"Ok…" she said thinking about if for a moment. "Yeah, but listen I don't think that's it's a good idea that I go into the 'Room of Sleep' I have a feeling something might happen if I do go down there." Amaterasu said thinking about it for a moment. "It's better if I just give it to him, and then later I'll figure out another way to get rid of this darkness," the girl pointed to her heart… _

Sora looked around for a moment, trying to find the guy with silver hair, but he couldn't find his friend at the moment. Naminé was trying to catch her breath for a moment as they took a break from sparring. Sora's other half looked around trying to find Riku as well, but they couldn't find him. Roxas sighed for a moment looking back at Naminé as she fell to the ground. Kairi's Keyblade withdrew to its keychain form and securely fastened itself on a little chain that Naminé had on her new outfit. The blonde female wore a black shirt, with baggy khaki pants.

The three of them just sat down on the plain colored ground of Radiant Garden. In the distance the chapel was noticeable due to the cleared remains of the attack on the residential area. Roxas looked up at the sky, noticing that the way the sun held itself in the sky must have meant it was around 2 o'clock already. He looked back at the others for a moment and spoke.

"So then we're leaving tomorrow?" the Nobody asked looking at Naminé and at Sora. The two of them nodded and Roxas threw his hands in back of his head sighing in content. "Just two more worlds to go…" the boy said stretching for a moment and then he yawned. Sora held a more determined look in his eyes. '_Soon Kairi, soon… Just please don't give up on me,_' Sora kept himself going because he was fighting to save the girl he loved. "Where do you think Riku's at?" Roxas asked tilting his head to the side of a moment, his neck ached.

"I have no clue," Sora said thinking about it for a moment. Riku had left a while after Yomigami had told Leon the password for the 'Room of Sleep'. "But I'm sure he's all right." Sora said optimistically as was his nature for things like that. Naminé worried for the teen with the turquoise eyes, he didn't seem like himself after they left Twilight Town, which seemed like ages ago. "I have feeling his off somewhere eating sea salt ice-cream…" Sora said looking back at the two Nobodies. "Speaking of which let's get some ice-cream!" he said placing his arms around both of the Nobodies, with that trademark grin of his. "Whadda ya say?"

"Are you buying?" Roxas asked his other half.

"Sure," Sora said happily. The other two nodded and accepted the offer for the free ice-cream. Naminé stated that she never tried it, and Sora and Roxas felt their eyes twitch in surprise. "You're going to love it!" the two said pulling Naminé up to her feet to find the nearest ice-cream parlor.

As they walked past the people walking safely along the sidewalk, Sora couldn't help but stare a bit at Naminé and Roxas. They reminded Sora of him and Kairi, which of course was normal, if not obvious, since they were after all their Nobodies. The brunette teenager sighed for a moment and looked up at the area ahead, the ice-cream parlor was just up ahead. Naminé blushed slightly feeling Roxas take a hold of her hand, and he whispered something into her ear.

Sora shook his head and laughed at the two. He decided to cut in, and placed his arms around their shoulder. "You guys weren't planning on having a rendezvous now, were you?" he asked jokingly noticing the embarrassed blushes on the two Nobodies.

**With Amaterasu and Riku **

The girl blocked an almost successful attack laid out by the boy before her. Her Keyblade boasted its power towards the Keyblade it was modeled after. Dawn and night clashed in a most uncommon way, with each hit the Keyblades dealt to the opponents the hearts of the wielders were crying out to cease the attacks. Amaterasu panted for a moment rolling away from an oncoming attack from the air. Riku jumped back after executing his attack and panted for a moment, his turquoise eyes didn't move away from her gaze. '_Darkness breeds hatred…_' the girl thought dashing forward, her Keyblade ready in hand.

A blast of darkness was sent out from the hand of the girl and Riku dodged it as quickly as he could, but Amaterasu was able to squeeze in another attack and Riku felt the wind knock out of him as he fell backwards. He caught him himself, doing a one handed flip, and used the left over energy to move forward, he was going in for the kill. Amaterasu pushed the attack back and she and Riku moved back. The girl could feel her inner Heartless scream for release. The girl felt her body go out of control, and Riku inner darkness felt affected by it.

Two humanoid Heartless stood before the other, hisses and growled emitted from the throats of the two. The female Heartless moved forward in a quick motion knocking the other to the ground. The more masculine looking one kicked the opponent into the air, and the fight took its moment up in the sky. Amaterasu was able to knock Riku off of his momentum and the boy was sent falling back to the hard ground. Riku could feel her breath dangerously close to his and that's when he felt his sharp fangs sink deeper into the flesh of the other Heartless.

Amaterasu pulled back and the two of them were feeling out of breath, but the darkness within them continued the fight to almost no end. Before long they charged towards one another with their claws drawn, and a little shockwave erupted as their attacks collided with one another. Turquoise eyes met with yellow Heartless eyes and quickly the girl withdrew her Heartless form. Riku still didn't give up on withdrawing his form and so the girl blocked another attack with her Keyblade. '_He has every right to be mad,_' she thought pushing him back an inch.

Riku's body went back to normal, and soon he was able to knock Amaterasu onto her back. He pinned her from moving as his Keyblade touched the exposed piece of flesh from her neck. Amaterasu had her weapon drawn close to his neck as well. '_It's a draw…_' Riku thought panting heavily. "Are you ready to answer me now?" Riku asked harshly leaning forward towards the girl.

"Get the hell away from me…" she said coldly pushing the boy off of her. She scrambled up and held pointed the weapon towards Riku. "For your own good, just leave now."

"You're the one who wanted to see me!" Riku yelled back angrily holding his Keyblade in a defensive stance. The girl shook her head. "You followed the portal!" the girl said fighting back with the boy.

Riku felt a force tackle him down and he tried to get up but it felt impossible. The girl placed her whole weight into the action of it all. She hugged the boy with all her might trying her best not to let him go. The silver haired teen heard the dark haired girl cry. It was something that was foreign to his ears. '_I don't want to fight with you…_' Riku thought as he found himself respond back to the cry. He stroked the back of her head, trying to gently cease the crying.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" she repeated over and over again. "I am so sorry, Riku for everything." Amaterasu said feeling more tears run down the side of her cheeks. "For so many things… I'm sorry I caused you so much pain." She said meaning every word of it. Her heart was still torn apart by what she wanted, and what she knew. "I thought that us being apart for a couple of months would make you forget about…" she muttered the last word, and Riku flinched slightly.

"I can't…" Riku said softly feeling the previous emotion leave him. "I would _never_ forget about you…" he said the girl allowed him to sit up. "What kind of person do you think I am?" he asked and the girl looked down. The dark strands of her hair prevented him from seeing the expression etched out on her face.

"It's funny… before…" she began to speak looking down at the green grass at the edge of the boy's foot. "We would be able to fix our problems… You would go and look for me, and I would listen and vice versa." She felt herself laugh for a moment. The darkness was starting to lock itself away back into the depths of her heart. "I didn't want anything to happen to you, so I left and tried to find a way to maybe try and change our fate, but it's inevitable, no matter how hard we try. There's no knowledge in the world that can change our fate." She looked up at Riku, catching a glimpse of his turquoise eyes; she had missed the sight of those green bluish eyes. "And now here we are, after a real fight. I never thought I'd fight like that with you, but I guess I thought wrong."

Riku noticed the Keyblade that was in her possession. '_It looks just like the one "Way to Dawn"._' He thought sighing for a moment. Riku looked back up at Amaterasu noticing the tears running down the side of her face once again. She flinched, feeling blood drip down the side of her arm. Several small puncture wounds were by her shoulder. '_Bite marks,_' the silver haired teen thought back to the fight. He gritted his teeth feeling the pain that ran down his arms. Wound re-opened and new ones formed around them. Their fight was intense, and Amaterasu was bleeding slightly as a result of it all. She had cuts on her legs, and on her arms, not to mention a bite mark by her shoulder.

"I'm sorry…" Riku said looking at the bit mark that was bleeding. Amaterasu looked away rather embarrassed for a moment. '_Curaga,_' the girl thought holding her Keyblade tightly for a moment. The wounds seemed to heal fast, the skin quickly overlapping the fresh wounds and closing completely, with no scars as a result. Riku looked at his wounds as they healed and he looked back at Amaterasu. "You didn't have to do that…"

"Yeah well the spell has a wide radius so whether I wanted you to be healed or not…" she didn't continue her sentence and kept her mouth shut. She withdrew her weapon and the keychain went back into the pocket of the dark hooded coat. The two of them just sat there on the grass, the filed didn't seem to be affected by the fight the two had, and Amaterasu was glad nothing had happened. She did like this field a lot and just sitting here made her calm down a bit.

There was nothing the two of them could say, they had said everything they needed to say through their actions. Silence was all that was left with them now, and it seemed to settle in to the whole frame of the matter. "Say something…" the girl said looking at the silver haired teen. "You just said something," Riku said looking back at her. Everything seemed worse now, no communication whatsoever. '_I want to talk to you,_' Riku thought looking back down at his feet for a while. '_It's hard,_' Amaterasu thought looking away at the green grass that ran off into the distance of the field.

"What still gets to me," Amaterasu began to speak to him now. "It's that I still love you." She said not caring what the boy thought now. "Despite everything that I've done to up until this point I still love you. While I was going to the different worlds and doing my 'business', I still held on to that small piece of hope your words gave me… But I'm not so sure about that now." She said hugging her knees now. Riku listened to her attentively and she continued in a low voice. "I'm scared, Riku. I'm scared of everything… I'm scared of what I've become, of what is happening, of love…" she said softly. "But I want love… I want to be with you. I want to wake up not having to feel so shitty, to be able to laugh genuinely and joke around with a smile on my face," she felt a sad smile form on her lips.

Amaterasu paused, feeling Riku take her into a hug, and she felt more tears stream down the side of her face. Actions spoke louder than words this time, and nothing could've made her feel better than feeling this connection with Riku. She just wanted comfort from him and nothing more. '_What am I doing here?_' she asked herself closing her eyes holding on to Riku as tight as she could. '_I should've left when I saw him sitting on top of the hill,_' she thought feeling a light kiss on her cheek. '_I could've left when I saw him fighting the Heartless from above the rooftop,_' she thought finally opening her eyes. She looked into the distance and noticed that the sun was halfway to reaching the time when it would set.

"All we need is a little bit of momentum /Breakdown these walls that we've built around ourselves…" the girl heard his voice carry out the melody. Somehow he knew how to make her smile, when he would sing songs to her from her playlist. She loved the thought he put into the whole thing, and for a moment the lyrics proved true. "That's from 'The Hush Sound'," she said pulling away from his embrace. Things seemed to be mending for the most part, but still the two of them felt a bit uncomfortable to speak of anything else. The girl wanted more than anything to tell him again how much he meant to her, but she felt confused now, with the darkness starting to eat at her heart. '_What I want, to what I know… I know darkness and I know him, but I want to BE with him more than anything in the world,_' the girl's brain was starting to give her a headache as all these thoughts rushed in and out of her mind.

"I can't get away from you, can't I?" he asked softly as Amaterasu raised her head to look at him for a moment. She felt a grin play across her lips and she shook her head for a moment.

"You don't want me to find you?" she asked tilting her head as the boy shook her head. Riku looked up at the sky for a moment and sighed heavily. He felt like he was conversing with a stranger. '_A stranger that I find cute,_' he thought about it for a moment and looked at the view from the hill.

"I want you to keep finding me," he said looking back at her. She placed her attention on him as he began to speak. "These past couple of months…" she interrupted him. "Okay, these _seven_ months have been like total nothingness. I can't remember what I've done or what I ate for breakfast yesterday… Without you I can't…" he didn't want to continue with his little speech. Amaterasu told him to continue. "Amaterasu, you're my light…"

"Darkness can't be light, Riku," Amaterasu said sadly looking down at her hands for a moment. She closed her hands and sighed shaking her head. "Why am I your light? Why do you think I'm your light?"

"Why am I _your_ light?" Riku asked crossing his arms over his chest. Amaterasu opened her mouth but closed her mouth since she couldn't really answer the question herself. "It's hard to answer that. I just… It's what my heart says, that's what yours says too, right?" he asked her.

"Yeah…" she said feeling a split second of uncertainty for a moment, and Riku could tell by the way she answered. Amaterasu scratched the back of her head and felt her heart beat just a bit faster. She laughed nervously and looked up at the sky for a moment streaks of white and sky blue decorated the sky of Radiant Garden. "Back when things were at harmony, when darkness didn't touch our home, this place use to have little flakes of light rain down from the sky… I'd give anything to see them again." She said having a little stroll down memory lane.

Riku looked back at her for a moment and smiled. There was something about his smile that made her look at him. It was sincere, something she hadn't seen in almost a year. '_That smile…_' she thought feeling emotions rise up within her heart. '_The first time I got him to smile like that for me… Do you remember that day, Riku?_' she felt a smile of her own creep up, and tears began to form around her eyes. "Kairi…" she said softly thinking back to Sora's light. "She told me that she forgave me…" Riku felt his eyes widen at the mention of what Amaterasu was going to describe.

She finished telling her story, trying her best not to cry, or stammer and say that the tears prohibited her from concluding her account. Amaterasu completed her narrative, but she could only gaze upon blurry objects, her vision was obscured since every single one of the tears streamed down, and more formed around her eyes. '_I don't like getting all worked up like this,_' the girl thought wiping away her tears, using the sleeve of her coat. Riku looked down at the grass that was beneath and thought about the event for a while. '_So then, she did… And she's in Sunset Horizon now. That's one of places we're going to have to restore as well,_' the teen thought about it for a moment.

"At least she's not dead," Riku said sighing in relief for a moment Amaterasu forced herself to laugh, and the boy felt something punch his arm. "What I'm just saying, Sora will be glad to hear that she's in Sunset Hor-" Amaterasu covered his mouth quickly, and in the situation of it all she ended up bringing herself down with him to the ground. She put a finger to her mouth to indicate that it was suppose to be a secret of some sort. Riku tried to speak but Amaterasu still had her hand on his mouth.

"You better promise to keep your voice down when you say it?" the girl asked him fearing that somehow Maleficent had sent some Heartless to spy on their actions. Riku nodded and took in a big breath as Amaterasu let her hand fall down to her side. He didn't bother to sit up, to be honest he enjoyed being like. '_That and because I want to see how long it takes her to realize she's…_' Amaterasu blinked slightly noticing how close she was to Riku's face and blushed slightly. "Sorry!" she said getting off of him. '_That's the Ammi I know and love!_' he found himself smiling at her gesture.

"It took you long enough," he said jokingly. Amaterasu felt a light blush run across her face, and Riku laughed at her for a moment. He felt an idea formulate in his head. Riku sat up and looked back at Amaterasu and an embarrassed smile both etched onto their faces. Within moments Amaterasu was staring up at the sky, and as she looked at the face hovering over hers she made contact with those distant turquoise eyes. "Whatever happens, Amaterasu…" he said speaking softly towards her. His hand pushed away some of the strands of hair from her face. "I'm always going to love you, please understand that. I don't love you because of your looks. I love you because of the person you presented yourself as…" he said with such softness that Amaterasu thought she was going to melt. "I love you for you and you alone. That's what makes you my light… Understand?" he asked.

Amaterasu blinked for a moment and nodded. A song popped into her head from a bad called 'From Autumn to Ashes'. "Here I'm in between darkness and light /bleached and blinded by these nights…" she paused as Riku leaned in. The contact was something that she wasn't prepared for, and felt her body grow hot with embarrassment. He placed a gentle hand under her chin and gave her a soft kiss. For once in his life this moment had been prefect, no interruptions of any sort followed.

Riku stayed like that for a while till the point where air was needed. She breathed heavily looking at Riku for a moment trying to figure out why in the world he kissed her, but the girl couldn't find a valid explanation. Instead he kissed her again with the same tenderness as the first one. She sat up and broke the kiss touching her lips for a moment. Amaterasu blushed and turned around covering her face with her hood. "Amaterasu…" Riku called out to her softly looking at the back of her hood. "Come on don't be like…" She didn't respond and he saw that calling her was getting him no where. '_Bad idea then…_' he thought penetrating the back of his mind for something else that would make it up to her.

**R i k u **

Hopefully when I turn old and grey, I don't forget this. It's been almost a year since I've known her and for once, I was able to kiss her _twice_. I'm actually excited that I was able to kiss her. My lips are tingling and my heart is racing as fast as it can. This is what it's like to find your light, and show how you much care for your light. She still hasn't moved from her spot, and I think it's just the embarrassment that got to her, and for some reason I feel bad for doing that to her. The only thing I can do right now is just sit next to her, but I can't see the expression in her face because of the hood. She's fidgeting with something that's on her neck, it's a necklace. '_I gave her that,_' I finally remembered what it was.

"I hope you're taking good care of my flower," she said letting the necklace rest in her other hand.

"Yeah, Donald and I have been taking good care of that flower." I said still looking at the item in her hand. I felt my hand grip the amulet from the necklace I had. She finally looked at me, but I still couldn't see her face because of the hood, I'm not even sure that she was looking at me, but I felt eyes _on_ me.

"It's still alive?" she asked tilting her head for a moment. "I was expecting you to say that it had died a week after you got it for me." I shook my head in triumph and I could hear her sigh in relief.

"So you gonna take the hood off, or do…?" she shook her head and I grinned slightly for a moment. She placed a hand on the hood and slid it off of the top of her head.

"I'm glad the flower is still alive, it's a beautiful rose anyway." She said pushing back her hair for a moment. It was about three o'clock now and the sun was still in the sky, hiding behind some clouds from time to time. Amaterasu looked back at me for a moment and to the item she had in her hand, she placed it in one of the coat pockets. "I have something for you…" she said her gloved hand searched for something in another pocket.

"Is that…?" I couldn't speak. I looked at the small sphere and felt my eyes get bigger. I tried to speak, but I ended up stuttering on the first words of the sentence. I felt her hand rest against my lips, and she pulled back her hand to tell me to keep quiet.

"I'm risking my whole life doing this for you guys," she said softly placing the sphere next to me. She wanted me to take the sphere, and I did. "Don't tell anyone where you got it from, okay?" I nodded in response to the question. "Good," Amaterasu said softly sighing in peace.

"But how…?" she just looked at me with these eyes that said 'you ask and I'm still not going to answer you', and I stopped asking my question. Amaterasu sighed for a moment and flopped against the grass underneath her body. She sighed heavily this time, and curled up slightly like a cat that sunbathed. '_She's still the same as ever,_' I thought smiling through it all. Amaterasu turned over and I was able to see a faint trace of a dark brown hue in her eyes. "I feel really confused now." She said sounding sincere about it for the most part.

"Why?" I asked her.

**A m a t e r a s u **

"I don't know why, but I just do." I said softly looking up at to catch another glimpse of his turquoise eyes. I loved his eyes, his smile; for the most part I just love him. Riku laid himself against the grass and looked up at the sky.

I looked up at the sky noticing that the wind was moving the white fluffy clouds against the blue canvas called the 'sky'. I haven't felt this happy, and confused since I was with Xehanort, and that was a long time ago.

I maneuvered my hand so that I could interlace my fingers with his, and he looked back at me for a moment, smiling at me. '_And now here I am, just with him,_' my mind felt at peace now, but soon the inner darkness would creep back in, asking me if this is what I really wanted. '_Stuck between what I want and what I know…_' I thought to myself stretching for a moment. I found myself side to side with him now, and the two of us just looked up at the sky. '_I hope Yomigami's okay,_' I looked at Riku for a moment, and I could feel myself blush when I thought back to what had happened a while ago.

A lot of things were running in my head and I didn't know where to even begin, heck I don't even know where my thoughts end as well. I could feel the darkness come back from its slumber, and it was probably better if I just left now, but I don't want to. I want to stay here just a bit longer. '_Why can't you just let me be happy for once?_' I asked myself hoping that my inner darkness could provide answer for me. '_I gave you chance a long time ago, but you wanted to continue your path. Remember your second awakening? Your journey will begin in the dead of night…_'

'_That doesn't mean that I'm going to be with the darkness for forever._' I answered simply hoping that the darkness would go away for a little while. '_Just please let me stay here a while longer,_' I could hear a voice sigh within my mind. '_Maleficent might catch on to you. Do you want to risk the consequence, just for the sake of love?_'

'_Love… That one word, do you want to risk your life for that word, that emotion?_' it asked another time this time sounding harsh. '_Emotions are for the weak, things like that have no place for a soldier, remember?_' it asked with so much disinterest in the emotion. I just sighed for a moment trying to push the voice out from my thoughts, but I couldn't do it.

"What's wrong?" I could hear Riku break through the noisy thoughts plaguing my head. I looked at him for a moment and shook my head. "You sure?" he asked once again, and I nodded. I don't want him to worry about me.

"I'm just thinking…" I said softly trying to keep my darkness at bay. I don't want to make him worry, he's had enough to deal with already and the last thing I don't want to end up doing is just give him more of a reason to worry. '_You can't shelter him from all of this, I hope you know that_,' the darkness was hissing in the back of my mind. '_I do know that_,' I answered back. For a moment I felt like I was just really weird for arguing with myself, but I have a Heartless like entity in me, so it's an excuse.

"Something's bugging you," he spoke out breaking my thoughts. "I can feel it. Something's up with you," I could feel his eyes on me, and I turned my head away from his gaze. "Amaterasu," he said softly, I felt a reassuring squeeze on my hand. The next thing I knew I was already standing up, and my feet were moving to a path that was down the hill. "Come on, walk faster," he said pulling me gently.

"Hey…" I said, pouting as he began to lead me down the dirt pathway. He let my hand go and I walked alongside him. He walked next to me, occasionally we'd bump into each other just for the hell of it. I took the gloves off of my hands and stuffed them hastily into one of the pockets that the coat had. "You came to me/in seamless sleep…" I began to sing a song that popped into my head. 'The Hush Sound' was a good band to sing to, and I liked them a lot.

Riku grinned at my little performance and I felt a hand mess with my hair. I pushed the hand away and growled trying to fix my hair. '_I'll get him_,' I thought catching up with him as he ran forward. He stopped suddenly and I wasn't paying attention. "Ouch…" I mumbled colliding with Riku's back. "Sorry," I whispered to him and he just looked out towards the rest of the town. This place was untouched by the darkness because there were no people, or anything that held hearts within the field, just nature.

"You think when this is all over…" he began to speak and his eyes were gazing out to the roofs of several homes, "we'll be able to stay together?" I wrapped my arms around Riku and he relaxed. His hands rested against mines and I sighed for a moment looking at the view. "I don't want things like this to keep us apart."

"We'll stay together forever, Riku. I promise you that." I said nuzzling my head against his back I could hear him breathe and it made me relax knowing that this was all real. He let out a little chuckle that made my heart melt. This moment, if I could give up my life just to make time stand still for this moment, to feel this for all of my life, I would be more than happy; I'd be more than complete. This was my own little piece of heaven, and no one could take it away from me, and not even the darkness. Even if I forgot this, Riku would do the remembering for me, and it'd awaken my heart.

Standing next to him and grabbing his hand, I know I'm not afraid, but still there's that small voice that says otherwise. '_I don't care now_,' I thought to myself letting whatever it was come my way now. Still between what I want, and what I know, it's something that's a bit out of my comfort zone. Riku's arm went around my shoulder and I felt him place a kiss on the top of my head.

"You're still as short as ever," he said jokingly and I smiled. We were standing to close to one another that I had to place my arm around his waist. '_And again he knows how to get me_,' my head rested against his chest.

"I'm not short, I grew… You grew too," I said looking up at him. He laughed at the nature of things, and nodded. "So see I'm not as short as ever," I said laughing.

"Yeah I guess you're right," he said placing another kiss on the top of my head.

"Riku…" I said softly, he looked at me, and I took in a deep breath.

'_You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result._' the words of a well known peace figure. Though I don't think this was how he wanted the phrase to have been used, for this sort of action '_Here goes nothing…_' I thought, almost freaking out because of what I was going to do. I felt my hands make their way towards his face, cupping his cheeks as gently as I could. I breathed in the scent of sea salt ice-cream that lingered on his lips, and I felt like I was melting with each second that passed. He felt so warm, so gentle, something I don't deserve. I've done so many terrible things in my past that I never thought something like this would be awaiting me in the near future.

'_Sea salt_,' that was the only thing running in my head to describe this kiss. '_Taste just like sea salt ice-cream_,' his hand lightly touched my cheek and I pulled away. Riku's lips lightly brushed up against my lips, and I felt dizzy now. '_This is what it's like to be in love and to receive love in return… This is what it's like to be living in the light…_' I thought to myself letting my lips press up against his. '_This is what it's like to be someone's light…_'

**A month later **

"Well she didn't choose this role…" Riku's voice could be heard screaming out the lyrics happily. Roxas, Naminé, Sora, Donald, King Mickey, Goofy, and a lot of the other people from the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee just gave out one big sigh. It had been a whole entire month since Riku's personality changed for the better one could say. Still it would've been nice if his little makeover didn't include the songs from the group 'Panic! At the Disco', but it was something that they could live with. Riku had taken choir lessons when he was a kid, and it was something that Sora would make fun of him for two years, until he was forced to wear the white little singing gown.

Naminé along with Yuffie, and Rinoa were on a search to figure out why he was happy, rather to put it simply who was the lucky girl. "My money's on that girl from the ice-cream parlor," Yuffie said thinking back to when he had bought some sea salt ice-cream.

"Dream on it's not her," Rinoa said looking down at the little ninja. Roxas and Sora just sighed. They already had a good idea of who that lucky girl was. '_It's Amaterasu… I mean who else could make Riku that happy?_' the two of them thought shaking their heads.

"When I say shotgun you say wedding…!" He was as happy as he could be. Riku called it a natural high of sorts, but the girls knew that he was in love with someone, but not once did they think of the girl with the title of being the Dark Princess.

Riku sighed pausing for a moment and strolled along the hallways of the house. They had arrived in Radiant Garden two weeks ago, and were still in Radiant Garden awaiting the result of the sphere, and so far the damn thing wasn't opening, or even reacting to the 'Room of Sleep' something was still missing, but what? Again, that deceased figure made his way into his mind, Xehanort. What his Heartless had said got him thinking about that man again. '_You have his darkness, so don't be fooled by her emotions,_' the boy tried not to let his darkness get the best of him but for a moment it seemed true. '_She did love him once, but…_' the silver haired teen knew it was true, but he was no longer living and she had moved on. '_But can memory really affect a relationship?_' he asked himself.

Whatever the case may have been to cause her to carry out that small action of love, those simple but loving kisses, Riku didn't care. '_I love her and she loves me,_' he thought proudly. '_But if you'd listen to her heart once in a while you'd figure out what's bugging her. Not to pry into the matter, boy, but she probably only craves the darkness left within you, his darkness…_' again the thought made its way into Riku's head. '_That's a straight out lie and you know it, Xehanort…_' he finally addressed him but for some reason he didn't sound all that hostile towards the Heartless named Xehanort, he sounded concerned for a moment or two. '_That's the same thing HE said when he still had his heart and body,_' the Heartless chuckled. '_But enough with that boy, we've got work to do now. Remember the 'Room of Sleep'?_'

"Something's missing in that room, but we don't know what it is." Riku said reminding the Heartless of the predicament that everyone was in. '_You ever stopped to think that maybe it's someone and not something?_' the Heartless couldn't help but just laugh. "Wait, why the hell are you even helping _me_, I mean _us_?" he asked looking up at the ceiling for a moment. '_A debt of some sort towards the girl and him… I have no place to go because I'm stuck in the body of a seventeen year old brat_,' Riku shook his head and walked along the hallway. "No one asked you to stay in there." He said softly. '_Yes I know that you fool, but you caused this, and until you find a way to get rid of me, or I find a way to get rid of you, I'm always going to be right in here,_' it was something that made Riku shiver. He knew that the Heartless meant by that, Xehanort wanted to get rid of his heart.

"Hey, Riku!" Naminé called out from the other side of the hallway. "Come on, we're going to go and check out the sphere again!" she said waving to him. "Let's go!" Riku snapped out of his daze, feeling his vision give away. Everything went black quickly but color flooded his gaze soon enough, something was going to happen but he just didn't know what.

**Ansem's Computer **

"Still nothing," Cloud said walking through the area of the super computer. He was on watch duty while Leon went to rest for a moment. Aerith was seen appearing from another side of the room. She sighed, not really expecting anything new. '_Still a month of examination and nothing,_' the flower maiden thought, looking back at the spiky blonde fellow. His eyes snapped back to the screen of the computer, for a moment he could've sworn the reading rise about a millimeter or so. '_My mind's probably just playing tricks on me,_' he thought shaking his head. "How do you think he got the sphere?" Cloud asked noticing Aerith's emerald eyes watch the screen tentatively.

The flower maiden snapped back into reality, trying to ignore the whispers coming through her mind. '_There's noise downstairs… someone's talking,_' Aerith knew that something was trying to communicate with her. Back when she was a child she learned from her mother how to 'hear' the planet, and it was something that Professor Hojo and Ansem the Wise took into great consideration along with the whole SOLDIER development and 'Project Blitz.'

"Aerith?" Cloud asked watching the flower maiden in some sort of trance. He waited patiently for her conscience to 'wake up'. He had dealt with this for some time now, and knew that the best thing to do was to now panic. Aerith blinked and emerald eyes stared back at the blue eyes that were waiting. She shook her head and said she didn't find anything interesting within the planet's cry.

"It just said to not let _him_ get in to the room," she said trying to think of what the planet meant by _him_. "_Him_… Who?" she asked hoping that maybe the planet would speak again, but it only gave it's warning once. "Oh wait, I'm sorry, you asked me another question before didn't you?" Cloud rubbed the back of his head and Aerith bowed apologetically.

"I asked you 'how do you think he got the sphere'?" he repeated again softly. Aerith made a slightly confused sound and muttered something. "What?" he asked trying to figure out what she said.

"The planet said he got it from the Night… Whatever the _Night_ is." she said trying to figure out why the planet would only give her small bits of information. '_What? That's not making since Gaia speak clearly,_' she pleaded with the planet. '_Night, yes I know Night gave him the sphere, but who is Night? Love… Love? Wait, what? How can Night be Love, Gaia please…_' the planet's cry left her mind now. "The planet can really be ornery sometimes you know… But anway I should get Sq-… I mean Leon," she said starting to head out.

"You know if I didn't know any better I would've guessed the two of you had something going on while Rinoa and I were away." Cloud said watching the flower maiden stop in her tracks. He was joking of course, he knew she had waited for him to come back home. '_Still I wonder sometimes, would she have kept waiting for me?_'

"Cloud Strife…" Aerith said turning around putting her hands on her hips. She leaned forward with this look of annoyance. "We never had _anything_… Now Squall and Y-" she covered her mouth, eyes were widening because of what almost slipped out. Cloud raised an eyebrow in confusion, and asked her to continue you. "No, no, no, no!" she said shaking her head. "Forget what I told you!" she said waving her hands. "You didn't hear anything from me!"

"Hear what from you?" a familiar voice asked in back of Aerith. Cloud snickered slightly noticing who the voice belonged to. Emerald eyes stared in shock, finally connecting with brown eyes, for a moment the appeared to give off a tinge of violet. '_Oh boy,_' the flower maiden thought putting on her trademark smile.

"Hey Yuffie, didn't hear you come in…" Aerith said laughing nervously. '_When did the door open, or did I forget to close it?_' she tried to remember but nothing came to mind. Yuffie leaned over to look at Aerith and Cloud in the same frame.

"So this is where the two of you have been," she said looking back to Cloud and then to Aerith. The two of them blinked looking back at the young ninja. "Well I won't tell anyone."

"Eh?" the ex-SOLDIER and flower maiden asked perplexed. "Wait, no. It's not like that Yuffie!" Aerith said quickly waving her hands.

In the distance all three of them heard the door open from the main entrance, and Aerith heard something again. '_Him, yeah but who is HE?_' she asked the planet. For some reason the planet was speaking to quickly, something was going to happen. '_But what?_' she thought looking at the figures that were coming through the entrance. She noted Sora's spiky brown hair, Naminé blue eyes in the distance, Roxas' outfit, and Riku's turquoise eyes, and then again the planet spoke out loudly.

**Beast's Castle **

_"Belle's gone, Beast…" Amaterasu said placing her Keyblade in a defensive stance. She noted the human appearance of the once cursed prince. His castle returned to normal once again, but the touch of darkness did remain when Amaterasu stepped into that world. The Neo Shadows appeared from the ground creating a pool of black liquid, their bodies forming from the ground up. Belle had been gone for more than half of the journey, just when everything seemed to be perfect for the prince and the beauty. The Prince felt rage set in his heart, and for a moment he kept his emotion leveled fearing that the girl would want to turn him into a Heartless. _

_He fought with her demanding to know why she stole Belle's heart. 'He fights for her…' the girl thought evading an attack from Beast. Amaterasu narrowly missed an attack from a saber that Beast willfully used to strike her down. 'He fights to protect her…' she blocked his attack, pushing the weapon back with her Keyblade. _

_Beast asked her why she did it, and she responded that her reasons were only because she followed orders. Beast was out of breath, and his right arm was bleeding, a gash on the upper part of his arm was created from her Keyblade. Amaterasu looked at her weapon and noticed that there was a crimson stain on the edge of the blade. 'I should leave now…' Amaterasu thought to herself. _

Amaterasu sighed looking at the castle once again. It had been a little less than a year when she had taken Belle's heart, and when she fought with Beast. He had proven to be a worth opponent, he fought for love, while she had dismissed it. The case was different now, but still the words that Beast said got her thinking. '_The strong fight for love, the weak shun it…_' the girl thought giving a big moan of dissatisfaction. '_Am I weak? Or rather was I weak that I didn't want love… But now that I have love am I still weak because I do this?_' she looked at her hands and closed them quickly. She jumped slightly hearing an automatic ring tone echoing from her blue jean pocket.

"Hello?" she answered the cell phone and a concerned voice responded. "Lightning… I'm sorry I didn't tell you." She said meaning every word of it.

"Don't do that again, Amaterasu." Lightning's voice held apprehension as her voice was carried through the piece of technology. "We're in Sunset Horizon, and then the next thing I know you're out at Beast's Castle. I can't keep covering for you forever you know. Maleficent still doesn't know about you-know-what, but…"

"I know…" Amaterasu said feeling cantankerous now. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I'm coming back right now," the girl said heading out of the gate, away from the darkened castle. Amaterasu clicked on Lightning, noticing that she had hung up on her. She forced a portal to appear within the very fabric of the area and stepped into it. '_Man this is going to take a toll on your heart when you get back to Sunset Horizon,_' the inner voice said warning the girl about the toll of her fashion of traveling.

_Riku, no! _

Amaterasu could hear voices yelling across in the dimension of where she was walking. She couldn't understand why the voice entered her mind, but for some reason she felt her heart sink for an unexplainable reason. '_Riku…_' she thought stopping within the pathway of darkness stretched before her very eyes.

_Sora, get him out of there! _

'_Whose voice is that?_' she asked herself hearing more yells and cries entering her ears, and troubling her mind now. '_What's going on?_' Amaterasu felt her heart cry out in pain, everything in her mind went berserk. '_Riku what's wrong!?_' her mind screamed, and her breathing quickened.

_Help me…_

'_Something's wrong with you…_' she thought in the back of her mind, she recognized his voice, and it broke her fragile crystal like heart, to hear him call out so weakly. '_Tell me what's wrong,_' she asked the voice, she asked the voice within the boy's heart, but she got nothing, she could no longer connect with him. '_He's gone…_'

"Riku…?" she asked the dark abyss around her. "Riku?" she asked again feeling alone now. "RIKU?!" Amaterasu cried out loudly, the halls echoed his name through the space and time the darkness held within its frame. Something broke off in her heart, and a chain wrapped around her neck feel to the floor. She looked down and noticed the necklace he had given her. '_No…_' her heart began to panic. '_I told you about your emotions…_' the inner voice said letting its voice be heard. '_Now he has awakened, and you've lost your…_' the pathway in back of her started to break off, and Amaterasu started to run towards the light at the end of the road.

**The same setting in each world **

Darkness loomed quickly, shadowing each corner of the whole frame of the world. Shadows rose from the ground becoming clearly visible, yellow eyes staring that the unsuspecting people. The soles of their feet darkness everything they touched. True darkness befell the worlds for the preparation of a long awaited terror. People ran in different direction, shadows dispersed knocking individuals down for the count, people screamed in terror and in pain as the creatures let their true nature shine brightly from the shadows.

Claws rose to the occasion and crimson stains splattered on the ground, on the body of the fallen, and decorated the flesh of the dark creatures, flashing a hint of heart lust to them. Their senses went out of synch with their own type and attacked those with hearts, nothing was sparred from the assault on the innocent. This was a perfect welcoming to usher in a reign of darkness, just like the Dark Master would've wanted it. Children ran to try and evade the monsters springing out from the ground, men and women grabbed whatever they could to fight off the creatures, and many others ran. Christened heroes stood before the creatures and engaged in a fight to hold them off.

The skies began to weep giving cry all of their own. The planet cried for its people and for their heart, as it could feel the darkness slowly take away the very thing it needed to give light and life. In a distant world a child paused looking through the crack of a floorboard, surely the child would be safe within the floor. Their mother and father tried to fight off the creatures that invaded the sanctuary of their abode, and the child's eyes widened when a sight caught their attention. At that point the child wanted to scream, but the child feared for their heart and life. '_Help…_' the child pleaded feeling a warm substance hit the side of their face. '_Blood?_' the child asked horrified, but it felt strange, and not like the crimson substance at all, and the child could hear the raspy panting of the Heartless. Similar scenes were scattered throughout the whole universe none were sparred, not even a glimmer of light was left within a person's heart. Worlds died that day, but only two were left in the wreckage of it all.

**The Room of Sleep **

Riku opened his eyes and found himself in a void of nothingness, everything was blank. '_Where am I?_' he looked around trying to figure out where the wall was at. He found no such thing as a wall. He could hear various shouts and battle cries, someone was laughing menacingly at the attempts of whatever was happening. '_Who is that?_' he looked around again but found no other person there with him. '_I remember sitting on the chair, and the sphere was placed in the middle of it all…_' that was the only thing he could remember.

_Thanks to you, he's awakened. _That voice sounded oddly familiar, and soon a figure with tanned skin and amber hair appeared before the teenaged boy with turquoise eyes. _There never was a way to prevent someone from becoming the host of the Dark Master, it was just a simple thing called 'hoping'. _Xehanort's voice was loud, and clear this time and the Heartless moved around freely staring the nothingness before them. _Can you feel it? This power, the power of true darkness…_

"Shut up!" the boy closing his fists tightly. "What the hell are you talking about, Xehanort!?" the teen demanded to know. The Heartless chuckled and continued to walk around, reappearing in one corner, and then disappearing into the next.

_The Dark Master of the Keyblades, he's woken up, thanks to you, little vessel. _

An older man appeared from the 'Room of Sleep', walking slowly up the steps, his body ached to breathe in the darkness created outside. He had been imprisoned for so long within that sphere. Within the chamber of the 'Room of Sleep' three figures were knocked out, and somehow they did not stir from their slumber. The force of the attack was too much for them. The one wearing black moved his gloved hand '_my whole body aches…_' he thought wincing as he could feel his arm move. Sora opened his eyes, his vision around him was slightly off point, everything was hazy. He moved his arm again, trying to pick himself up. He noticed that Riku was no where to be found, and that the sphere in the middle of the room was broken in half.

**A/N: You know that to do **_one_** review please!**


	39. The Atrum Vinco of the Keyblades

**A/N: whoo-hoo chapter 39 yay! I got motivated today after re-watching the trailer of the secret ending so yeah. Also the names of the three soldiers have been confirmed sort of but that's only if you've played Final Mix, it mentions their names after a certain scene, so spoilers beware!!!**

Soras heart281**: Thank you so much, but yeah I sense an ending, but I don't know when. Hah at least he got kissed right? **

Nameless Dragon: **After months we've all been waiting for everything to finally come together, so here it is! Enjoy the hard work put into this! **

Rozen: **Rozen-san words can't express how grateful I am, and thank you once again for your quotes, you know I'll put them to good use, so don't worry. And yes more of the Atrum Vinco is in store in the content of this chapter so happy readings! **

**On with the story! **

**Chapter 39: Atrum Vinco of the Keyblades **(The Dark Master of the Keyblades)

_"So then do you mind if we call you…" the girl with the blue tried to mouth out a name, but she couldn't do it properly. She stammered for a moment trying to pronounce the new name, and the blue eyes staring back at her blinked, and the figure chuckled. _

_The figure shook his head, "I don't mind at all. So then, what part Sunset Horizon do you guys live in?" the blonde figure asked, watching another pair of blue eyes stare back at him. _

_"Terra, was it?" the blue haired figure asked looking back at the taller one that stood near the two of them. The brown haired figure nodded. "Ah, yeah you like being called Xehanort…" the blue haired figure rubbed the back of their head. _

_"It's okay," the brown haired figure said looking back at the new kid. "Anway, Ventus you came from Nokia?" and the boy by the name Ventus nodded. "Hey that's where I'm from too." _

_"I had a feeling you guys would be from the capital," the blue haired figure said blushing in embarrassment. "Well at least I know where you guys come from." _

_"You from the capital…" Ventus tried to remember the blue haired figures name. "Aqua…n?" he asked clumsily. _

_"You got the first part right, Ven, it's Aqua not Aquan." The blue haired girl said sighing heavily. "And well my parents were from the capital, I was born in Ometry." The girl said and the two boys looked at her. _

_"Wow!" the two of them said. "You don't look like those fighting types at all…" Ventus said and Aqua puffed her cheeks. _

_"That's why I came to Elusion-Ilusion, the capital you dummy, to learn how to fight!" the blue haired figure said stomping her foot. _

_"All three of us came here to learn how to fight…" Terra said looking back at the academy that was before them. "But first we have to get past the education system and then we can fight." _

_"Let's get to class then, shall we?" Ventus said grinning. _

_In the distance the three noticed someone standing by the entrance. A man with a slightly white goatee and bald head, he appeared to be older than 40 years old, and clothing that meant that he worked there, it was a suit of some sort, dressed in black, red, and white. Ventus walked past the old man and Aqua paused for a moment and greeted the sir before her. Terra just noted the old man and continued on his way into the academy. The bell rang filling the halls and everyone within the area scrambled quickly so that they would be marked tardy. _

_The three of them made it to their first class, as it was marked on their schedule, they had all the same classes together, it was probably a coincided. As they approached the doorway they noticed the same man from the doorway. 'How'd he get in there so fast?' Ventus pondered about it for a moment, but Aqua pushed him into the classroom. _

_The named 'Ignis Xehanort' was written on the board that was in front of the class… _

Riku opened his eyes groggily and looked around, he was in a classroom for a brief second and then he found himself staring a white screen. He jumped back noticing a figure step out of the white screen. '_Ignis…_' the silver haired teen thought watching the menacing amber eyes stare at him. '_THAT's the Dark Keyblade Master?_' he noted the aged appearance, he looked like a professor. '_He's OLD…_'

_"So then you're the one they called Riku. Huh, I thought you would look more like Terra since you carry the same Keyblade. Anyway, boy, I want to thank you for freeing me. Finally the Dark Princess did her job, it's been ages…"_

Riku growled, but felt that he was unable to move. He was stuck within the mind of the Dark Master, and to make matters worse he had no control of his body. The grip the Dark Master had was unlike any other foe he had come to face. '_He really is THE Dark Master…_' Riku thought watching the man disappear from sight.

_"I'm glad you seem to think so…"_

Riku eyes widened and so he knew that the man could read minds.

_"As for the Dark Princess you speak so fondly of, I wouldn't worry so much I'll see her soon enough." _

'_You so much as tou-!_'

_"Relax… You are just like him. Anyway maybe, just maybe I'll let the two of you meet, a little reward for the** Atrum Procer**." _

With that Riku was left alone in the mind of the Dark Master, but sadly he still couldn't move, and if he began to think he feared the Dark Master would hear him. "I have to find a way out… where the hell is that damn Heartless?" he looked around hoping to find the other amber eyed man.

_You rang?_ The voice echoed sarcastically. The Heartless appeared out of nowhere and looked at Riku with those piercing amber eyes. _Nice to see I was missed_ the Heartless said flatly and looked around the room again. _Now you know what it's like being trapped within a body. Sadly it's your own body… Anyway what do you want?_ The Heartless seemed annoyed.

"I don't know…" Riku said floating around aimlessly now. "I can't move." He said looking back at the Heartless who expressed the very thing he could not do, and that was walk. "Hey are you listening to me?" Riku asked watching the Heartless stop moving for a moment. Xehanort's Heartless looked back at him and snickered. "What' so funny?" the teen demanded to know.

_I could kill you right now, and end your spiritual presence once and for all, but HE won't let me. What does he plan on doing with you? I doubt it's anything good. He'll probably get rid of you once you met up with the **Atrum Procer**. He probably plans on just making you suffer longer…_

"Hey!" Riku barked looking back at the Heartless. "Listen, Terra!" the Heartless froze and felt an inexplicable anger surge through his heartless being. "Once I get moving I'll wipe the floor with you…!" He said meaning every word of it, '_and you, Ignis!_'

_You can't move and yet you somehow manage to peer into his memories. You really are something, but that's not my name you insolent brat! _Xehanort raised a gloved hand and Riku was sent flying back and hit something, like a barrier. The boy cried out in pain, and the more he fought to move, but it was no use.

Outside the Dark Master walked around the world called Radiant Garden, there was nothing radiant about it now. Dark clouds loomed over the world, and Heartless appeared more frequently. As the Dark Master walked through the desolate streets the Heartless within the area paused and gazed up at their powerful master. As he left the creatures resumed their attack on the people of that world. This man had seen countless places destroyed at the might of the darkness, this was not new to him. '_And still Kingdom Hearts is not yet mine,_' the man thought gazing up hoping to see the heart shaped moon, but nothing.

**Sunset Horizon**

Lightning watched as a portal appeared from the opposite corner of the hallway. Her blue eyes looked at the figure that ran forward, and a look of sadness befall the running figures feature as her knees gave way and fell to the floor of the hallway. She let out a brokenhearted cry letting her fist hit the tile of the area she was resting on. Her voice broke into sobs and little whimpers. She had been happy once but now that feeling was gone, it was a distant memory for the Heartless watching her 'client' cry out, watching the tears stain the tile, hearing her 'client's' Keyblade hit the tiles with such force. Amaterasu choked back tears, her heart was in so much pain, something broke off from her heart, and the portal had taken its toll on her body.

"Amaterasu…" the Heartless called out cautiously, fearing that the girl would have another outbreak. Amaterasu tried to fight back sobs, but the emotion was too great for her. She muttered several things, and cursed at herself shaking hr head once or twice, and when Lighting called her name again she said to stay away. "Amaterasu…" Lightning didn't give up on trying to get her to talk. The girl shut her eyes tightly and tears stained the tiles below her.

The girl was back within the border of the world by the name of 'Sunset Horizon'. Here she was considered safe, being in the eye of the storm where things were calm. She could feel the darkness in her heart stand still, afraid of everything that was happening, even the darkness knew when it should back down. Lightning looked back at her sobbing 'client' she regained self control but still sat almost lifeless on the tile floor. '_I can't feel his heart. I can't…_' she looked up at the ceiling, trying to imagine the sky, but again all she could picture was the darkness. '_Is this my fault?_' she asked herself fighting the urge to cry once more. '_I can't feel you Riku, where are you?_' there were no pins poking her heart, nothing to trigger a warm feeling now.

Lightning looked away from the eyes the girl held; something of utter sadness plagued the heartless body. '_He's awakened…_' the Heartless thought sensing a powerful presence, but she couldn't tell whether it was very far away or very close. In any case the Heartless pulled her 'client' and dragged her back within the chambers of an abandoned castle, ruins decorated the entrance, columns stained with moss and cracks, chunks embedded into the tiles of the entrance. It seemed almost like the one in Radiant Garden, only that it was composed of gothic architecture, but nothing out of the ordinary, it was after all a ruined castle.

"Once that witch knows that the Dark Master has awakened," Lightning began to speak noticing that the girl was far off from reality. "She'll know that someone stole the sphere." She said carefully as they reached the main hallway of the ruins. Amaterasu looked up slightly as if to say she understood, but still the fact that she could no longer feel Riku's heart worried her to no end. Her dark brown eyes held no life in them now, just an empty vessel, it seemed that her heart was gone now.

"Pull yourself together, Amaterasu." The Heartless said sharply pulling her 'client' up roughly from the floor. The girl blinked coming back into reality and the Heartless placed her back down. "I may not have a heart right now but I don't like people ignoring me, understand?" the girl gulped looking back at the blue eyes from the Heartless and she nodded.

**Radiant** **Garden**

Sora closed his eyes again, his cheeks connecting with the cold floor of the 'Room of Sleep'. The spiky hared brunette felt something warm and moist connect with his cheek and he opened his eyes groggily. He noticed the clawed paws, and the aroma of the Heartless that clung to the black fur. '_Umbra…_' Sora thought watching the yellow eyes stare down at him. The hound began to whine seeing its new master on the ground and lightly nudged the boy's face with its cold nose. Sora made an effort to pick himself up but nothing happened, his arms felt like jelly. The hound named 'Umbra' observed the other two near him, the Nobodies were lying on the floor stunned for a while. Sora felt his body lift up gently from the ground as the hound pulled him up with his front teeth.

"Thanks, boy…" Sora said gesturing a weak smile, and the hound laid his body next to the boy. He turned his head to look at Naminé who stirred up picking up her body with some ease, her head was spinning and her neck was aching badly. She looked back at Roxas, noticing that his arm was shoulder was bleeding. The hound opened one eye lazily and watched as Naminé tended to the blonde teenager's wound. It reminded him of something his previous master would do, but again the hound was no longer taking orders from them, but the boy called Sora.

"That man was really strong," Naminé said noticing that the Keyblade was gone from her grasp, it went back to its Keychain form. She groaned feeling her head spin and placed her hand to the side of her head, to keep it from drooping. '_I think I got up too fast,_' the blonde thought feeling herself almost fall back. Roxas finally stirred, his blue eyes slowly opening, and Naminé jumped rushing to pick him up. Roxas tried to speak, "Sshh… It's okay Roxas we're all fine," the blue eyed female said leaning the teenager against the wall of the room. The Nobody moved his arms a bit and winced feeling a pain shoot up from his shoulder. "It's not that deep…" Naminé said casting 'Cure' on the inflicted shoulder.

"That bastard…" Roxas growled feeling a healing light fall on his shoulder. He panted for a couple of seconds trying to remember what had happened. "Who the hell told him to sit down?!" he asked angrily looking back at the strange throne before their eyes. "We could've…" he stopped himself trying not to get angry about the whole thing. '_Where is Riku anyway?_' Roxas' blue eyes scanned the area, but all he found was a worn out suit of armor, and a fake Keyblade.

"None of us knew this would happen…" Sora said looking back at his Nobody, and Roxas looked back at him, still feeling that something should have been done about it. "But for now we should go and check up with the others…"

"I hope Aerith and the others are okay…" Naminé said worried noticing that the Shadow Hound perked up its ears and growled at the entrance. Someone could be heard walking down the spiraling to the 'Room of Sleep'. Sora and Roxas eyed the entrance carefully, and noticed the figure stopping at the entrance. "Yomigami!" Naminé said happily and the Shadow Hound stood at ease. The ageless teen gave a slight smile and looked at the way he came from.

"We should leave really soon, and I mean _really _soon." He said feeling something take a violent turn within his heart. The darkness within it was getting more rowdy with each minute that pass by. '_He's awake… This is bad. Really bad…_' Yomigami thought feeling his heartbeat quicken. '_I might get turned into a Heartless soon enough if I even so much as dare and try to fight him._' Fighting against him was out of the question for the old sibling. '_But we have to fight off the Heartless,_' he felt a frown fall upon his lips, feeling the corners of his lips bend down slightly.

"What about Cloud and the others?" Roxas asked looking back at the figure that had grown out his hair. Yomigami sneered slightly, and the blonde hared boy titled his head slightly.

"They'll be fine just on their own." Yomigami said watching the Shadow Hound move a bit. "Anyway, Sora how's the dog?" he asked and the Shadow Hound growled in displeasure as it had been called a 'canine'.

"Good, I named him Umbra." Sora said standing up slowly, his knees still didn't feel strange enough to go and run, but they would be able to carry him slowly. "Aren't you worried about Yuffie?" the blue eyed boy asked noticing a light blush run across the other specimen of 'Project Blitz'. Yomigami shook his head with that they all started to head up the spiraling staircase.

Up above Aerith placed a very strong Reflect spell, surrounding those that within a twelve foot radius. The Heartless bounced off the protective shield and waited for the barrier to fall down. As the barrier broke Yuffie jumped into the air, throwing her shuriken, watching it slice the enemies in a clear straight path. Nanaki chanted something and a ball of fire appeared from the sky, this was his version of a 'Firaga' spell. Cloud moved forward with his 'First Sword' ready to slice down the enemies surrounding him. With a flick of his wrists the weapon collided with the bodies and clearly knocked them down. Vincent and Shelke worked side by side, the amber hared prodigy took her EM sabers and twirled around the Heartless slashing and hacking those that stood in the way. Bullets pierced whatever was left of her 'dance' watching them fall back, and disappear from sight.

"Someone call for back up?!" a voice shrilled from the rooftop of a nearby building and Aerith and Cloud looked up quickly. A man with dark raven hair and a another figure stood by his side. The black hared man jumped down to the ground taking his 'Buster Sword' and demolishing three Heartless with ease. The other figure jumped down at let her punches and kicks do all the talking; enemies went flying into the air. The female figure ran forward and with a deadly somersault sent a Heartless flying into the air.

"Zack, you're a bit late!" Aerith yelled placing another 'Thunder' spell on the unsuspecting Heartless. Cloud moved back a bit noticing the familiar female figure punch a Heartless, it went flying into his direction, and he sliced it down. A black feather caught his attention and he peered up at the sky. '_Sephiroth…_' he thought growling for a moment.

"Cloud, look out!" Zack called out, and the female figure took action. She ran forward and grabbed the Heartless before it landed on Cloud. The figure threw the enemy in midair and watched it create a crater on the wall of a building. "Hope you didn't mind that I brought help…" Zack was no doubt talking about Sephiroth and Tifa.

"Thanks, Tifa…" Cloud said commencing another attack on the Heartless before them. The familiar and yet terrifying Masamune sword quickly destroyed the enemies Cloud couldn't reach.

In the distance Yuffie could a see a familiar person running down the side of the empty street, with two weapons held ready at hand. "Yomigami!" she recognized the chakram that zipped past her, slicing, and probably beheading a couple of Heartless, he commanded the weapon with the will of his mind. The Shadow Hound zipped past Yomigami and attacked at several Heartless, standing to the side near Nanaki, and it lunged forward at a formidable opponent, it placed its own version of 'Dark Aura'. Sora ran forward, brandishing Ultima weapon, and Roxas carried one with Oblivion and Oathkeeper, and this time Naminé wielded a different kind of Keyblade. '_That's the one from the Room of Sleep…_' Aerith thought, evading an attack from a black claw.

**Sunset Horizon **

"I can't stay…" Lightning said noticing the dark eyes of the figure. The familiar dark blue hair, Versus was right in front of her. "Listen something has happened, something horrible. I fear that _he_ is back. I can feel it; the very being in me fears it. _He_ has awakened."

"Does she know you're here?" Versus couldn't help but ask. The two of them were in a secluded area of the capital far away from the civilization. Lightning shook her head, Amaterasu didn't know about this at all. "You've gone against your 'client'…" Versus said flatly and sighed heavily. "History is repeating itself…" he said coldly. "You all pro-…"

"We know, Versus," the Heartless said coldly and growled at him. "God's judgment is not inevitable. Listen, I'm not going against her, I would never betray her, she's…" Lightning shook her head. '_Can't let this get to me…_' she began to speak again. "Once _he_ sets foot here no doubt another Keyblade War will begin…"

"I'm assuming you know something about it then." Versus said noticing the uneasy gaze he was receiving from the blue eyes of the Heartless known as Lightning. She shrugged in reply. "All the other Keyblade wielders are probably dead… Which means all we have left is just…"

"Sora." Lightning said noticing the slight look of disapproval etched across the heir's face. "Yeah, even Amaterasu isn't happy with this one. She says the last Keyblade War had only three people, not one." Speaking of which, Lightning knew she had to be back to the hideout soon. "I can't stay any longer," she said excusing herself from the heir of Elusion-Ilusion.

"Yeah…" With that Versus felt a strange surge of power run through his veins, his appearance changed slightly, his dark blue hair turned as white as snow, and with a second or two passing he disappeared. Lightning stood there for a moment watching area in which he had stood, and with that she created a dark portal and walked through it.

Amaterasu sighed plopping against the bed sheets that were placed on a bed. She stared up at the ceiling, her whole body ached. '_I've cried so much today,_' she thought closing her eyes for a moment. '_Emotion got the best of you, didn't it, little one?_' that voice entered her heart once more, and she hissed turning over on her side. "Leave me alone…" she said to the Heartless within her, the darkness that was slowly spreading into her heart. "Can't you see I'm upset?" the inner voice made no effort to answer the question. '_Where's your, pet?_' it was referring to Lightning. "Somewhere…" Amaterasu answered dully, she didn't feel like talking now, she just wanted to be left alone.

A raven entered the room and she noticed that it rested against the fabric of the bed, its talons carelessly tearing holes within the comforting object as it made its way towards the girl. Amaterasu looked at the raven for a moment a groaned, '_Damn that witch what the hell does she want now?_' she looked at a little note attached to the bird. "Go away…" she muttered to the raven and it pecked at her exposed. "Ouch…" it wanted the note to be untied from its foot. "Make me…" she said harshly, feeling another peck at her hand. "All right!" she growled snatching the note from its talon. "Now go…"

_Their hearts are reacting to something, so that means it's almost complete. The sacred moon which the Dark Master had been searching for. All we need now is the Dark Master and we'll have our whole plan set in motion… _

"Ha!" Amaterasu said pausing. "I already beat you, you damn witch." She noticed that it was her own darkness that said that, and she paused for a moment to let her words sink in. She found nothing interesting other than the fact that Maleficent wanted her to come down to the basement of the ruins. '_I don't want to…_' she moaned, and rolled off of the bed in a swift motion. Her heart felt heavier now, but she assumed that it was the darkness from within the beating organ. '_Something still doesn't feel right, and it's only going to get worse…_' she thought making her way through the room and down the hallway.

The hallway was cold, broken stained glass decorated the edges, and snow from several continuous days lightly rested against the windowsills. Amaterasu looked back out the window and noticed that the snow had stopped for a now. '_It's supposed to be spring now…_' she thought thinking back to the seasons. '_Then again a lot of places don't stop snowing until the middle of it…_' Amaterasu sighed heavily, and the clock tower was within her view. It brought back another memory. '_All we've been able to do is cause sadness to one another…_' she thought thinking back to when she sat alongside Riku.

Lightning appeared quietly from behind Amaterasu, and the girl paused feeling someone in back of her. Her Keyblade was drawn out and Lightning jumped back feeling the object hover dangerously close to her neck. The girl paused and noticed that it was Lightning, and she apologized as she withdrew her weapon. "Where have you been?" she asked the Heartless, but she didn't want to answer. "Hey come on, spill it, where did ya go?"

**R i k u **

What am I suppose to be doing now? I can't exactly explore, because I can't move. What the hell was I think sitting down on the throne? What possessed me to listen to Xehanort for that small moment in time? I'm pissed at myself for doing this, and I know the others are too, especially Roxas, I didn't listen to him, he said something didn't feel right, but I decided to go with my inner voice, a lot of _help_ that did.

Ignis Xehanort, so that means that this guy, the old one, is the true Xehanort. Terra, that guy, the one in the memory, he was the fake Xehanort. But why did he think of the name earlier? He probably was bored or something, I can't really justify his action for doing that but still. So then that means, Ventus, Aqua, and Terra were the Chasers, it's safe to say. I'm trying to remember everything that she told me, but I'm forgetting with each hour I spend in here. Where is here anyway?

I looked around, floating aimlessly, and something sucked me down to what was the ground of the mind. "Huh?" I looked back down and noticed a black portal suck me up now. '_Shit!_'

_"Ignis!" the blue haired girl from before sighed, and brought her wooden bamboo sword close to her. "Let's take a break… We're all tired…" she said referring back to Terra and Ven, they panted heavily and felt that they were going to break at any moment. "Please…" the girl begged using her wooden training weapon as a cane. "Come on… We're kind of hungry too you know!" _

_"You're just as bad as he is, Aqua." Ignis said with a light smile etched across his face, his amber eyes held no malice in them, they seemed kind. He was referring to Ventus as Ventus was saying something about food towards Terra. "In anyway case you are right, I've been working you children all too hard today." _

_Ventus and Terra had some energy left to high-five each other. Aqua was glad to hear that they were going to get a break, her stomach was growling from the lack of provisions it had gotten. The extra sessions were paying off, and the three of them would spar against one another for extra practice. They each wanted to be soldiers for capital, and Ignis said he would be more than happy to give them sessions. _

_"So Professor Xehanort…" Ventus began sitting down on the dirt ground. "Tell us more about the Keyblade!" the other two children stopped and looked back at the professor. "Yeah, hey you never finished that story!" the other two said happily. "Please Teacher!" Aqua said. _

_"First food, then I'll say my story." The man said waking alongside his pupils. "I wouldn't doubt if one day the three of you will get a Keyblade of your very own." _

_"Really?!" Ventus asked, his eyes shining at the idea of receiving a powerful weapon. "That would be so cool!" he said shouting and jumping into the air. "I can't wait to get one!" _

_"It takes a lot of hard work and training, but most of all a strong…" he pointed to his chest. _

_"A heart?" Terra asked. "How can a heart be weapon?" _

_"The heart is the mightiest weapon of all, Terra." Ignis said noticing that Terra gave him a confused look. "You'll all see in time…" _

Another memory? Why am I able to see his memories? _You and Terra are somehow connected, by the Keyblade you both wield…_ That voice it was Ignis, how did he? Is he _showing_ me the memories? No, I really doubt it, it's probably because I'm wandering around aimlessly.

**A m a t e r a s u **

Everything all shot to hell here, _great_, just _great_. I feel lost without him; I can't function knowing he's gone! Or maybe, he's hiding? A piece of what's left of my heart says that he's all right but I've got no physical proof to back that all up. What's more is that I can't really feel my heart beat normally now, it's probably the darkness now, it makes the heart beat slowly once it reaches a certain grip within the beating organ. '_Why does it feel like it's my entire fault? I promised you I'd find a way to change our destiny…_' I did promise him, but I feel like I failed him now. '_I'm sorry Riku. I just ended up repeating history again._'

_"Dark Princess?" the teenager before me called Xehanort asked. "You know that sounds really familiar. I think I've heard it somewhere, but I can't remember." _

_"Huh, didn't think you'd hear about that." I said swaying my legs back and forth. "Anyway, that's what Tia Dalma said." _

_"So you're suppose to be looking for someone then?" he asked curiously. I nodded and sighed heavily, watching the sky up above. The lights slowly fell down to the ground, and they'd evaporate into the floor of the periwinkle hued ground. "Do you know what they look like?" _

_"Nope, all I know is that he'll be the next Master of the Darkness. He goes by a lot of titles…" I said looking back at the amber tinged eyes. "Hey you know your eyes were blue when we first met you." _

_"I think it has something to do with that crap Hojo gave me…" he said making a face slightly. "I don't know how you can stand…" _

_"We'll talk about that another time," I said quickly trying to avoid the whole subject all together. "I can't help be feel like he's in the city though…" _

_"Who? That guy?" Xehanort asked quickly looking around at the civilians. _

_"Yeah…" I said nodding for a moment. _

Maybe if I had listened to my head more during that time I could've helped save a lot of people from when Xehanort took the name of Ansem. I didn't know that he would be the next Dark Master, and now, Riku became the vessel for the Dark Master. That's what my heart tells me anyway, and I can't ignore that now. '_Don't be too hard on yourself…_' I thought to myself, but what was the point, a lot of people were going to die, or turn into Heartless. What about the young generation of this world, how will they fight back?

With that aside I'm stand right here, down in the basement. The Princesses of Heart are sleeping, and there's this dark aura around every one of them. In the middle is this little rod or something that's suppose to direct energy into the sky, to help open the pathway to the sacred moon 'Kingdom Hearts'. Maleficent was talking about something, but I tuned her out, what she said was nothing new to me. '_I wish Pete were around then he'd be getting heckled by her and not me…_' he was probably off somewhere running away from the Heartless.

She's complaining about something, and it really doesn't interest me at all. Something about her grip on the Heartless, she's losing it? Yeah that seems about right, and if she is, well that means the Dark Master is awake and wreaking havoc all over the universe! '_If our fate rests in the hand of Sora then we'd better just kill ourselves right now…_' again the other voice was just having fun with this whole thing. '_Leave him alone, he's not by himself, he's got Naminé and Ri…_' I felt my eyes being to feel warm. '_Roxas… He's got Naminé and Roxas._'

**Radian** **Garden**

The Dark Master sighed for a moment, watching the Heartless move about from below, and their yellow eyes moving towards more unsuspecting victims. '_The hearts released from the Heartless by the Keyblade. Where is the next wielder?_' he thought to himself, he felt a weak presence nearby. '_Don't tell me this is the chosen one?_' he chuckled at the weak reading he was receiving from the nearby area. He raised a hand and outstretched it to the area where the 'Chosen One' and the others were fighting. '_Let us see if you can handle this, _ _Chosen__ One,_' the Heartless moved rapidly jumping and climbing through the debris of the buildings.

Roxas panted holding on tight to the handle of Ultima weapon with his two hands. '_I can't keep this up…_' he thought blocking another attack. '_You mean WE,_' Sora's voice could be heard loud and clear. '_Yeah, sorry about that buddy…_' Roxas apologized, and performed a Dodge Roll, narrowly avoiding an attack from a nearby Behemoth. Tifa jumped onto the back of the Behemoth and laid a heavy blow to the horn knocking it unconscious. Naminé jumped in and performed an attack by the name of 'Ragnarok' her weapon rained heavily on the horn of the unconscious Behemoth, once the flurry of attacks finished a red light grew from the tip of the Keyblade and sent beams of light through the horn. '_She's good…_' Sora's voice could be heard within Roxas' mind. '_She learned from the best…_' Roxas said slashing at nearby Heartless. '_You'd better not be taking all the credit!_' Sora rebutted, his voice could be heard laughing.

Within moments, Roxas and Naminé found themselves covered by a red cloak, and somehow on the summit of a rooftop. "Thanks, Vincent!" Naminé worn out, panting heavily trying to relax her aching muscles with her breathing. The gun man nodded and swooped back down to the battle field. The two of them were worn out, and Roxas withdrew his form, back to his original 'other'.

"You all right, Naminé?" Sora asked looking at the girl for a moment. She nodded and plopped her new Keyblade on the roof top, watching an Invincible zip past them, with its demonic like wings and huge sword. The girl watched the Heartless as it zipped past them, it didn't notice them yet.

_"Here take this!" Yomigami said presenting Kairi's Nobody with something that appeared to be a rusted Keyblade. Was it possible for a Keyblade to become rusted, only with time it was possible. Naminé looked at the Keyblade and to the keychain that was in her hand. 'I wonder…' the Nobody placed the keychain on the little ringlet of the rusted weapon, but nothing happened. Naminé made small frown tug at the corner of her lips and took off the keychain. _

_"Let me look at it…" Sora said taking the weapon from Naminé's hands. Within moments of contact against the gloved hands of the '_ _Chosen__ One' a keychain formed in replacement of the rusted Keyblade. In the 'Room of Sleep' that Keyblade's true nature was hidden, but awoke when it felt Sora's presence near. 'Aqua…' the boy thought hearing a whisper within the walls of his mind._

Sora looked back and noticed something of immense power take him by surprise. It was weighing down his heart, and he noticed that his Keyblade disappeared from sight, back into a keychain. Naminé felt something weigh her being down, and fought to regain the form of the Keyblade, but it was no use. '_Something over there…_' Sora thought bring his eyebrow together in a rage of emotion. '_It's strong and dark…_' he looked back at Naminé and she nodded in agreement.

"If it gets bad, run," Sora said looking back at Kairi's Nobody. "Roxas will kill me if he finds out I let you…"

"Relax…" Naminé said giving a small smile. The clouds were still dark and to make matters worse lightning began to show signs of turmoil within the world. '_Something's bringing the Heartless here, but who? What?_' the Nobody watched as Sora moved forward, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, at one point she saw him hover over a rooftop. '_A little bit of faith and pixie dust…_' Naminé thought closing the gap between herself and the other summit of the home.

With passing minute the two individuals seemed to come closer and closer to the presence and Sora could feel a power he never felt before. '_Pure darkness…_' he thought feeling the light within his heart shine brighter than it ever did before. He summoned his Keyblade again, and moved forward into a fighting stance; white knuckles showed the strong grip he placed on the weapon. Naminé looked at the figure that seemed to split into two separate entities. The blonde female looked back for a second time, and noticed that they were far away from the others. '_Be safe you guys…_' somewhere in the Nobody's mind she could hear her other self tell her to be careful. Naminé summoned her new Keyblade and ran forward with Sora, landing on the ground below from the rooftops.

The figure ahead of them sent a stronger version of 'Dark Aura' heading into a deadly collision with whatever stood in its way. Naminé picked up her Keyblade, and braced for the impact of metal hitting an aura. '_Reflect…_' but even the spell seemed to be off par with the attack. Naminé flew back and the figure ahead smirked. Sora looked back, '_Naminé!_' Roxas' voice could be heard echoing through Sora's head. '_Sora let me fight, please…_' he begged his other half. '_All right then…_' Sora agreed and in a flash of white light Roxas reappeared taking Ultima weapon into his command. He moved forward, but failed to notice the other figure move close by him. '_Roxas!_' Sora's voice reached him three seconds too late, and the blonde male could feel his body getting tossed back, on the ground.

The figure dressed completely in black, sent a powerful Blizzard spell towards Roxas, but Naminé mustered enough strength and aimed her Keyblade at Roxas. '_Please make it in time…_' She opened her mouth, "REFLECTGA!" a wisp of ice like particles wrapped around Roxas, and Roxas brace himself for impact against the subzero temperature of the attack. He looked at the Blizzard spell form around the barrier of the 'Reflectga' spell and he breathed out, seeing his breath almost as clear as day. The figure dressed in black jumped back and Roxas could hear Sora's thoughts. '_That's the guy from one of the memory spheres!_' Roxas couldn't recall from when, but for some reason he agreed with what Sora had to say.

The barrier broken and Roxas leaped into action. The figure wearing white gloves grinned menacingly and lifted his hand up. In a flash the ground began to shake, and as Roxas jumped forward, Ultima weapon held high an enormous slab of earth collided with Roxas, at a wicked speed that would more than just break a couple of ribs. Roxas collided, head first, and stumbled onto the slab of earth as it rose higher and higher. The ground underneath Naminé began to shake and as she felt her body being hoisted up from the ground, she jumped down and ran forward dodged an attack from the figure dressed in black. "Roxas!" she cried out.

Roxas stood up, noticing that he stood on a platform of broken earth. He turned around hearing the earth cry as it began to cry, thunderous echoes moved about the world as it been to shift apart. '_It's being destroyed… Everything is…_' he gasped and dodged an attack from the figure with the white gloves. '_Those eyes…_' Sora noted as he viewed from within the sanctuary of Roxas' mind. '_Amber…_' Roxas thought as he ran forward, ready to attack the figure. Within the mind of the Dark Master things moved relatively slow for him, so blocking the Keyblade was no challenge, if anything he made it seem like child's play. As Roxas' weapon came crashing down, without missing a beat, the figure with the white gloves simply held out his hand, and within second Roxas felt his body jerk back at the sudden defense of it all.

A mixture of the Keyblade Oblivion and Ultima weapon seemed to have been fused together, and it struck fear into the one who opposed it. Roxas felt his eyes widen, and he knew that somehow he wasn't going to like the outcome. He felt his body get knocked down and as he stood up, panting ice ran through his arm. The older man with the amber eyes gave a crooked smile seeing his Blizzard attack creep up on the boys shoulder. The boys eyes widened as he saw the familiar Nobody appear from behind, and ready to go in for the kill, her Keyblade meaning to deal a fatal blow. The Dark Master disappeared in an instant and then as soon as he left he grabbed Naminé's head.

"NO!" Roxas yelled out. The figure in black came to the side of the Dark Master, that figure also had a Keyblade. "DON'T TOUCH HER!" somehow a hint of Sora's voice spoke out with him.

"Run, Roxas, run!" Naminé yelled desperately trying to free herself from his grip. The Dark Master chuckled and the figure dressed in black quickly hurled Roxas straight to the ground below. '_Reflectga…_' Roxas managed to conjure the spell weakly, as his body created a crater upon hitting the ground with sheer force. He looked up and noticed Naminé struggling to get away. "NAMINÉ!" Roxas cried out.

Sora reappeared quickly with Roxas, and he rushed in taking Ultima Weapon from his Nobody. He jumped up with force, but something blocked his path, he noted that the figure in black was coming down. "Get outta the WAY!" Sora yelled fling back an attack from the figure. He rushed up past the severed earth, making it to the midpoint of the summit. '_Hang in there…_' he begged himself to hope that he wasn't too later.

Roxas looked back at Naminé blue eyes, they were full fear, and so was his. '_Please don't die…_' he prayed over and over. The Dark Master finally got her to stop moving, and first her body became as black as charcoal. '_NO!_' she stopped moving and her whole body froze as the Dark Master still had her by the head. The older man smirked and then sent a powerful 'Blizzaga' spell on the poor defenseless body of the blonde haired girl. With that he made his last move, and sent the body tumbling down to the earth. The Keyblade she held in her hand collided with the jagged areas of the earth, and so did her body. Roxas strained his stiffened arm and managed to run to her side, ignoring the pain from the cold his arm had faced. He finally got into a run where he could slide through, and he did. Within moments he caught Naminé using his body as a catching mechanism. He could feel the cold temperature of her body, everything was frozen, and yet when he gazed into her eyes he could fee hope. '_They're moving…_' he thought sitting up and holding Naminé gently.

This was only the beginning of what the Dark Master could do, and it certainly will not be his last. With that, watching his spectacular performance he disappeared from sight just as Sora was about to attack, taking the figure in black with him.

"We'll continue this another time, Ventus…" was all that Sora heard, it drifted into the wind.

**A/N: You know what to do **_one_** review, please!**


	40. Tot altus itaque mugio SECUI UNUS

**A/N: Thank you SO MUCH you guys, really, you all have been great, and also for having the patience to deal with me, so I'm really thankful, believe me. Also it took me longer to write this because of my final exams, I just need one more day and I'm done. Also this chapter is broken into a couple of parts, I was going to give you guys a mega chapter, and then the ending, but I figured so that you'd want more I'd give you little chunks of the whole big picture so yeah, I'm making you guys wait a bit longer… sorry! **

**Rozen:** thank you so much Rozen-san without you I don't think I'd be able to feel inspired, and your quotes are magnificent, thank you, thank you, thank you! Your patience is greatly appreciated as well.

**Nameless Dragon:** Thanks man! Heh, well I try to keep up the good work, so I won't let you guys down!

**Sorasheart281:** I haven't head the word 'emu' in so long… But yes I am sorry about that but I think you'll like this chapter, a bit more, well sort of anyway, you have to read it!

**December Sky:** Thank, I'm glad you're liking the story so far, so keep reading!

**Xejicka: **I always wondered about the amber/yellow eye thing, so thank you for the clear up, I'll do my best. Hehe, well Sora might change, the keyword here is 'might' you'll have to see.

**On with the story! **

**Chapter 40: Tot ****altus**** itaque mugio SECUI UNUS **(so many highs and lows, part one)

'_What the hell did you do to her?!_' Riku's mind yelled out violently. Ignis' voice could be heard chuckling at the boy's outburst. '_I don't find that funny you fucking…!_' he felt his whole body completely shut down and with a loud thud he went through the mind of the Dark Master, and was falling into darkness.

_"I really suggest you pay attention to what you say, insolent brat. I'm giving you a chance here to not completely fade; I've permitted to keep your mind and whatever is left of your heart within your own body. Not that you have a say in it anyway,"_ as Ignis spoke Riku could feel his body falling deeper in the depths of darkness within the man's mind.

'_You didn't have to…!'_ Riku's body jerked violently. He stopped moving and he tried to regain control of his breathing. He's arms felt like jelly, and his stomach was churning, he wasn't use to falling down like this, especially being surrounded in complete darkness.

_"She's not dead, merely frozen,"_ Ignis responded back harshly. _"I was only having fun, I do deserve some exhilaration around here, I've been gone for too long."_ His response was as devious as ever. Riku made a sound attempting to speak out in protest, but the Dark Master controlled his body, only allowing him to 'breathe'. _"What am I going to have to do to keep you quiet? Perhaps some sort of punishment is in order for you, Riku. Where do I being?" _

_'I get your point. Just let me go!'_ it was no use. As much as he tried to break free from his control he didn't have the strength to do it. Riku felt his body move right side up, and soon his feet connected with the ground. He regained control of his arms, and was, for once, able to move around. '_Why the…?' _

_"Do not get too comfortable 'vessel' but I felt like I should let you walk around here. And only here. Not that you have a choice, although… Making it seem like you do is assuming, but nevertheless I've work to do. Keep yourself occupied within here."_ Ignis' voice left Riku's presence and once again the silver haired boy was gone, the silence and the darkness were the only things that kept his being company.

"I hope you're all right, Naminé." The boy said to himself, sitting down on the solid floor of the dark 'room'. He couldn't see his hands, and at times he felt that he was somehow sinking into the floor. "I have to get out of here…"

_"Riku!" the girl ran to his side, and he looked away from her. He didn't feel like talking today with her, because Sora and Kairi had asked him if he wanted to hang out with them again. "Riku…?" the girl called him out again, and he turned his back to her. "Oh come on, talk or say something, anything, heck, you know tell me to go away, I'll leave." _

_"I just don't feel like talking, that's all…" Riku said looking down at the other pair of shoes that belonged to the girl. "But I don't want you to go away…" _

_The girl smiled and sat down next to him. Riku found himself stealing glances whenever she made herself laugh, watching the dark brown hair lightly fall whenever she pushed it back. This was when she went by the name of '_ _Selma__' but he will always remember her as Amaterasu. _

_"You know…" she began to speak. "I hope that things work out for the two of them." She was referring to Sora and Kairi. Riku's eyes looked up at her for a moment. _

_"They've liked each other since they were kids, why wouldn't it work out?" he asked, failing to notice the coldness in his voice. _

_"Someone's jealous…" she said, her dark eyes staring back at the confused turquoise eyes before her. _

Riku found himself chuckling a bit and he shook his head. "I hope you're all right, Amaterasu. I'd kill myself if I found out something happened to you…" he wasn't sure if he meant what he said. "But I don't know what I'd do if something did happen to you…" he knew that part was true. He felt the solid room around him, his hands lightly touching the dark floor of the second level of the mind. "What the hell does he want with me?" he didn't know where exactly he was. "Where the hell am I?" he knew he was within the mind of the Dark Master, but that was just it. Riku felt something like static buzz about in his head, and soon it stopped, and something replayed within his mind.

_Ventus sighed and looked back at Ignis, wondering why he wasn't moving. 'Is he sleeping or something?' he was about to wave his hands in front of him when something scared him. "Ah! It's only you…" he sighed in relief taking in to account the other pair of blue eyes staring at him. "…Aquan…" he said purposely, and the girl sighed, letting her new nickname take root within her personality. "Professor Xehanort told us to meet with him, and he's sleeping…" _

_Aqua looked back at the older man, and noted that his breathing was shallow, which meant he probably was asleep. 'He's not even that old though…' she registered that mentally in her mind. "Hey you two…" the two younger individuals looked back at the taller figure with the strange brown spiky hair. Aqua's blue eyes noticed that there was a bandage wrapped around the wrist of their buddy, Terra. He pulled his wrist back instinctively and noted that their professor was slowly waking up. _

_"Mornin' Professor!" they all said noticing that he was slowly opening his eyes for a moment. He was surprised to see Terra, but quickly masked it with a small smile back to his pupils. Ignis nodded, and slowly rose up from the chair he was resting against. "So why did you call us down here?" Ventus asked noticing that the sun was starting to set slowly. _

_"Rumors are that there are creatures around here that appear after sundown, in this very spot." This place had once been used as a warehouse of some sort, but it was abandoned decades ago. Ignis had made this place something of his own, adding light touches to the back room. Ventus looked around the area, trying to figure out how creatures could appear in a dull warehouse. Aqua felt a chill run down her spine at the very thought of seeing something pop out from the shadows. Terra felt his light blue eyes scan several spots and he gripped his injured wrist for a moment. "I want you to see if you can come across one, and defeat it." _

_"Is it strong?" Aqua and Ven asked. Professor Xehanort let out a small chuckle, and Terra had a bad feeling about the whole thing. "Come on, Professor Xehanort…" Ventus begged, hoping that he would allow more information to be released. _

_"You'll just have to find out." He said simply, and Aqua shivered feeling a tinge of paranoia catch up with her now. "You'll fight as a group, understood?" the three of them nodded. "Good," he noticed that each teen had with them their wooden training sword. "Happy hunting then…" _

_"You're not going to stay?" Terra asked raising a brow in suspicion. Aqua and Ventus looked back at their professor and gave him the same reaction as Terra had done moments ago. "But why?" Ventus asked hoping that he would somehow change his mind. "I mean what if something happens?" Aqua asked in a soft voice. "You're in charge of us…" _

_"I have complete faith in the three of you, you'll do fine." Ignis said and with that he turned his back and walked away, farther and farther to the entrance of the warehouse. "Use whatever you can to your advantage, and don't be afraid of the dark." _

The silver haired teen sighed, and felt something wrap around his body, it was very frigid and almost felt like water, and it was very moist. Riku felt his eyes widen when he noted that yellow eyes stared at him. The entity's eyes moved to a separate part of the 'dark' room and Riku noted that it wanted something. He stood up now, and before he could support himself, he felt black strands quickly take hold of him, and the ferocious growl that was too close for comfort.

_"That's enough for now, boy… don't want you learning my whole past now…"_ Ignis' voice filled Riku's mind as the yellow eyes emitted another growl, and the silver haired teenager felt nothing after that.

**Radiant** **Garden**

Sora looked at his arm and looked down at his leg, and noted that his skin was turning as dark as the skin of the Heartless. '_He's going to pay…_' his hands turned into claws, and his hair became as dark as the night. A vicious growl emitted from deep within his throat. '_I'll kill him…_' they weren't his own thoughts, but the thoughts of his dark side. He let out a deafening yell and pounded both of his fists into the platform of earth. A shockwave sprang forth from the force of the attack; a strange purple and black aura shot out, and quickly disappeared. His body stood up straight again, and shook of the derby from the sudden outburst of the attack. Yellow eyes sought out revenge, but soon enough Sora regained control of his body and before long the darkness slipped away back into the far corner of his mind. He noted that his weapon was on the ground next to him.

Ultima weapon's wielder looked around the broken area again. The platform on which he stood gave him a view of the distorted physical world. Streaks of lightning filled the chaotic world, showing, at the same time, the inner sentiments of the wielder. He gripped his weapon tightly and stared once again at the area where the Dark Master was last seen. '_He's strong than Xemnas… He's more powerful than any other enemy we've come to face,_' he thought falling to his knees, his body was battling with fatigue and rage.

"Sora!" his Nobody call out. Naminé's cold body was pressed against his. "I'm sorry Naminé," he said softly. The look in her eyes asked for forgiveness, but he assured her that it wasn't her fault, but his own. The ice on his arm was slowly melting, and he was soon able to take her in his arms. He hoped that soon the ice would melt for her sake, and his. The wind was howling loudly, and his voice couldn't reach his other half. Sora went back down after a couple of minutes, steadying himself down the earth formed platform. He let himself free fall the last twelve feet. He panted for a moment withdrawing his weapon, and soon he felt his eyes fixate on Naminé physical condition. '_She's… frozen…_' it was the only thing getting through his head.

"Umbra…" the Shadow Hound appeared before his master's side. A dark liquid formed the whole anatomy of the animal within seconds of the name being called. It looked up at the blue eyes, and the boy stared back at the yellow eyes of the strange animal. "Go and get Aerith," he instructed and the Shadow Hound took a second to catch the sent of the flower maiden. When Sora looked back at Naminé all he could feel was more rage build up within his system. '_Damn that guy!_' his mind yelled. '_I'll get him. I'll make sure of it._' He could feel that even Roxas was feeling that way, being that he was a Nobody and he could remember what it was like to have a heart. '_Damn straight I am…_' he could hear Roxas' voice in his mind, '_That fucking bastard… look what he did to her,_' Roxas looked back at Naminé's eyes, they moved again.

"Ro…" her voice was so low it pained the two boys to see her speak. "Rox…" her lips parted and it was a very straining task to muster, and her breathe could be seen as plain as day. Roxas begged her not to speak, but she wanted to tell him he was sorry. "S…so…" Roxas shook his head and held her once again. '_Don't speak, please Naminé it's okay…_' she still wanted to say it. She felt that she wouldn't be at peace if she didn't make an apology. "It's all right…" Roxas said feeling her icy cheek against his, "I'm the one that should be sorry…"

"Both of us are…" Sora said dimly looking away from the scene for a moment. "We shouldn't stay here. I have a feeling that this world will be gone too…" more of the earth began to shift in different areas, and something like a vortex ripped through the sky of the world. "Sora!" a voice battled to be heard through the howling wind. He noticed that the Shadow Hound was running alongside the female figure. Her body stopped and she finally made it to where Naminé and Roxas were at, and gasped noticing Naminé's condition. The ice covering her body was slowly thawing out, but still it didn't seem fast enough.

"Hypothermia…" was the only thing audible from the flower maiden's mouth. "Sora, quick cast a Firaga spell!" Aerith said hurriedly. "Now!"

**Sunset Horizon **

"Don' touch that you wretched girl!" Maleficent snapped harshly at the girl, and she flinched as her hand barely hovered over the strange looking artifact. Amaterasu growled lowly under her breath and looked at the strange thing titled as a 'compass'. '_What the hell does that thing even do?_' she wondered about it for a moment, and sighed. '_Can you peer into it?_' she looked again at it, trying to make out anything, but to her avail nothing could be sought out from the whole artifact. Amaterasu felt a frown from at the edge of her mouth, and she looked back at the yellow eyed witch. '_Why is she being so sensitive now? I mean can she feel his presence?_' she walked away from the strange artifact and sat down next to Maleficent in a seat that was slightly higher than the one the witch sat in. '_I'm continuously being watched by the stupid pet raven, that's the only bird I don't like, hers…_'

Amaterasu looked down the chamber room and noticed a familiar head filled with blonde hair and watched the figure carefully. '_Where's she going?_' the girl thought, gripping the edge of the armrest for a moment. Her dark brown eyes made contact, with the blue eyes of the Heartless, and Lightning stared back at her for a moment, not really displaying any sort of emotion on her facial feature. Lightning made her way past the chamber room, and off into another room. '_She's keeping something from me,_' the girl thought scrunching up her nose in displeasure of the whole notion. "I'll be back…" the girl said hopping down from the seat, and running down to the entrance.

Lightning took a moment to let the girl catch up to her, and she felt someone tug at the edge of the crimson scarf. The Heartless turned around and met up with the one with the dark eyes. "Yes, what is it, Amaterasu?" she asked simply, and the girl didn't really know what to respond to for now. "Well, come on, say something." The Heartless said again, looking around once again. "You're here alone, right?" she asked the girl softly, and Amaterasu answered honestly, saying she didn't know for sure or not. Lightning growled for a moment, fearing that something would soon come running up towards them. "Come on…" and the girl felt a violent tug on her wrist.

After putting some distance between her and whatever was going to follow them the girl finally spoke, and pulled away. "Why hasn't _he_ come?" the girl finally managed to say something, and she could feel Lightning shiver at the mention of the Dark Master. Lightning shrugged her shoulders and her 'client' just sighed for a moment. "Wait, wait, wait… Why the heck are you being so moody?" Amaterasu demanded to know why exactly she was acting this way. "You know in case if you haven't noticed, you've been acting really weird."

"I don't know why." Lightning said sounding a bit confused at the whole idea. '_If it's because of the Dark Master then well she would be acting moody as well. And she has…_' the Heartless looked back at her 'client' and sighed for a moment. "But you've been acting a bit temperamental, Amaterasu."

"I have a right to act like that." She said crossing her arms over her chest. "You'd be more than upset if you can't…" Amaterasu growled for a moment knowing she couldn't feel that part of the sentence. "You know why…" she said coldly and looked away from the Heartless. '_She smells like him…_' the voice in the back of her head hissed out, '_That man, the Heartless smells like that certain heir…_' Amaterasu tilted her head studying the way Lightning carried herself, and walked around her for a moment. Her mood changed slightly now, trying to see if the voice was right. "So, you never told me where you went."

Lightning scratched the back of her head and gave a fake smile, hoping to shake her off, but it was impossible. Amaterasu was like a Heartless, once it found a small patch of darkness, this being the little secret Lightning didn't want to mention, she'd hunt it down till it killed her. "Will you let it go if I tell you?" Lightning asked hoping that she would nod and say yes.

"Sure…" Amaterasu said stopping in front of Lightning again.

"Fine…" the Heartless felt a bit uncomfortable now, sharing this information with her. "I was with…"

**Radiant** **Garden**** gummi dock **

"So the bald guy is Rude, the red head is Reno…" Sora looked back at the people that stood before a different colored ship, it was blue and black. "And they're friends of yours?" he repeated, and looked back at the raven spiky hared man.

Zack nodded, "But enough with the intro's little man, we've got to go," Zack said looking back as the world began to shift again in the distance. With the crowd of people it seemed to look like everyone was here, and their last destination was a place a called the End of the World.

"So then, you all ready?" Sora asked looking at everyone that was around a red gummi ship, and the other blue and black one.

"She isn't back yet…" Cloud said walking forward towards Sora, and Zack Fair. He was referring to the flower maiden.

"Where is she at?" Zack asked getting ready to head out and look for her.

"Zack you can't go out there, it's too dangerous." Tifa warned him, as the earth began once again to shift unexpectedly.

"_Our_ friend is out there, Teef," Zack said looking back at her, sounding a bit hurt.

"Never mind I'll go and find her…" Cloud said heading out once again.

"Be careful, Cloud!" Tifa yelled, hoping her voice would reach him.

Cloud ran past the crumbling walls that started their destructive path. '_Where is she?_' his mind raced as he rolled forward, narrowly missing a falling column. He looked back, '_I can't come back this way now…_' he continued to run forward and for a moment he stopped, noticing a pink and light green outfit. '_Aerith?_' he stepped forward and again the ground began to shift once more. "Don't move!" a female voice said somewhere along the rooftops. His blue eyes looked up at a building and noticed that there was a women and a boy up there. "Don't move, Cloud!" it was music to his ears. '_Why is she…?_' Cloud jumped back feeling the earth beneath his feet shift.

Aerith looked back at the blonde figure that was on the ground, and she looked back at the brown haired boy who clung to her. "That's him…" she said watching the child look at he man called Cloud below. "I told you he'd come." She said happily and again the ground began to shift. She noticed that by the rooftop they were one they could easily jump down to the ground, there were little platforms. '_But I wonder if they can hold the two of us?_' she didn't want to jeopardize the child's life, but it wouldn't do them any good if the roof collapsed. "Denzel, was it?" she asked, and the boy nodded, "hold on tight to me…"

**Back with Sora and the others **

"How is she?" Roxas asked looking back at the sealed doorway, a room held the blonde female Nobody within of the area of the gummi ship.

"Aerith said that she'll wake up, but we don't know when…" Tifa said, sitting next to Roxas. He sighed and looked down at his feet for a moment.

"It's not your fault…" Rinoa said finally climbing into the gummi ship.

"I could've done more…" Roxas said looking back at Tifa and Rinoa. He noticed that a little girl was sleeping at the other side of a row.

"That's Marlene," Tifa explained. "She was put into Reeve's care, you see her parents, they died recently, and we haven't heard from her foster father, Barret. He was a good friend of ours," she paused for a moment and didn't know whether or not she should continue. As Tifa was about to speak again but noticed a familiar women with emerald eyes stepped into the ship carrying a brown hared boy. "Aerith!" the other two women said in relief.

"Sorry you guys… It's been pretty hectic out there now…" the flower maiden said setting the boy down on a seat. "Cloud and Leon are on the other ship with Zack and the others." She said and noticed Roxas who sat silently, staring back once in a while at the sealed door. "The King left already, and he's going to wait for us at the End of the World. Sora, Reeve, Vincent, Shelke, and Nanaki are coming aboard with us, along with this boy by the name of Denzel," a wave of relief fell on Tifa noting that Sephiroth wasn't going to board with them, "Reno, Rude, Zack, Cloud, Leon and Seph…" she paused for a moment, "yeah the… erm, guys are going in another gummi ship."

"I feel bad for Cloud; he's got to be stuck on the same ship with _him_." Tifa said noticing Aerith shake her head slightly. "Oh yeah, you know it's a good thing we got your call when we did, or else we'd still be in Midgar…"

"I know, it's a good thing Zack always picks up his phone… and Reno too he wouldn't have offered to give you guys that ride over here, unless it was under Zack's orders," Aerith said patting Denzel lightly on the head, he had fallen asleep clinging to the side of the flower maiden's dress. "Speaking about the others also… Yomigami and Yuffie left already."

"What?!" Rinoa raised her voice. "You mean _he_ just took her, like _that_!" Aerith nodded, understanding what she meant by _that_. "But… but, doesn't he care how it's going to affect her heart?"

"I don't know… I mean she's got a strong heart…" Aerith said, and Roxas finally seemed interested in the conversation. '_So then Ammi's older brother has a crush on Yuffie, haha she'll get a kick out of that… Hold on but how did they leave so early?_' Roxas thought about it for a moment. Rinoa spoke up once again, and they listened.

"I know he can put up with it, I mean he was part of 'Project Blitz' but she's still just a kid, her heart can't take that kind of abuse… Traveling through a dark portal… with that magnitude of distance… that'll almost crush the human heart!" she finally managed to put everything together. "He's insane!"

"He's Yomigami…" Aerith said rubbing the back of her head. "He's always been like that; you should've seen when he taught Amaterasu how to tap into that Heartless form… Not even Hojo knew it was possible after the experiment."

'_Anti-form…_' Roxas thought thinking back to how Sora had let his rage get the best of him. '_So then they can do it too?_' he finally snapped back into reality, hearing Sora answer for him, '_Yeah they're pretty strong, remember the info we found in the terminal? They were the only ones to actually SURVIVE the whole procedure…_' he could hear Sora chuckle a bit in his mind. '_How is she?_' he asked sincerely. '_She's sleeping, but I don't know when she'll wake up…_'

"Cid and Shera left around the same time too…" Aerith said trying to remember if anyone else was going to meet up with them there.

**The Dark Master **

Ignis Xehanort, the man whose full title strikes fear into those who remember the event. Ignis the Dark Master of the Keyblades, in any language it meant the same thing, darkness of seemingly infinite power. He walked back to the land he called 'the beginning'. A place he had once come to love, a place that was almost left in ruins now. 'Sunset Horizon' where everything had begun and had ended for him, but now he had a second chance to rewrite his own history. '_He'll find a way to stop you, they all will!_' Riku's voice seemed to pester him to no end, but he did his best to restrain him, plunging him deeper and deeper into the darkness that filled his heart. '_Don't you ever shut up?_' another voice asked loudly. '_Both of you, silence!_' Ignis' own thought yelled violently at the two entities. '_Xehanort, come out…_' Ignis felt his body jump for a moment and a figure dressed in a black tight suit with a black faceguard appeared right next to him.

"I have a little job for you…" Ignis told the Heartless. "See if you can find me the **_Atrum Procer_**, and report where you've found her."

The Heartless nodded, with a Keyblade ready at hand. "With pleasure," the voice said and the black suited Heartless ran off.

'_What the hell are you doing Ignis? You can't trust that idiot, he'll attack her! That fucking Heartless, he'll…_' Ignis sighed for a moment and stopped to rest against one of the earth made columns.

"Are you telling me you doubt the power of the **_Atrum Procer_**?" Ignis asked, chuckling.

'_No… I mean she can fight but…_' Riku didn't know what to say really.

"It sounds to me like you are. You're not a very good friend to her if you are…" but he was interrupted.

Riku growled for a moment. '_You're one to talk you left your pupils all alone out there; they barely made it out alive…_'

"Just give it a rest already!" the Dark Master said loudly, his Keyblade stabbed the slab of earth. "That's it Riku, maybe this way you'll learn to be quiet…" his mind filled Riku's head. '_I'll kill the girl myself, that's it. Once she has done her job, fulfilled her last purpose I'll dispose of her…_ _Just to make it a bit fitting, you'll do it for me…_' he said feeling a malicious smile form on his lips.

'_You…! No, I won't do it! You bastard I won't kill her!_' Riku's voice became louder and more violent tempered than ever, and the Dark Master chuckled hearing the vicious roars and growls from within the deepest level of his mind. The silver haired boy had found his feral nature within the mind of the Dark Master, and it was something that Ignis could probably use, but Riku would be hard to control in that form.

"You don't really have a say in it, Riku…" Ignis chuckled, hearing Riku roar loudly within the frame of the Dark Master's mind. "You'll be under my control soon enough, I just have to wait a bit longer, and you'll see." The process of controlling something that was that unstable was something that didn't seem to faze the Dark Master of the Keyblades.

**R i k u **

My throat is burning, but why? I don't really know why, but I remember hearing bits and pieces of what Ignis said, but other than that everything is just one big blank. '_My throat's killing me…_' I thought to myself, and again I'm back in the dark room. At least that weird Heartless creature isn't here anymore. '_What was that thing anyway?_' still my thoughts wouldn't be answered. Again that static noise came flooding into my mind, and everything froze for a moment.

_"So then…" Terra breathed in for a moment. "We're leaving Sunset Horizon?" Ignis nodded and Ven and Aqua didn't look to happy with the news. "But why?" he asked. _

_"The Heartless," Ignis said pulling out a little colorful block. "Those things you found in the warehouse, they'll eventually swallow up this world." _

_Ventus walked around for a moment looking back at the collapsed warehouse. It had been a month since they found those dark creatures lurking around there. It was there at the same time that only Terra had acquired a Keyblade by the name of 'Kingdom Key'. "Since you've been chosen as the keeper of Kingdom Key, you'll be the one that links the worlds together." Ignis said and noticed that Ven sighed for a moment, he looked back at Terra with his blue eyes. _

_"I don't want it though…" Terra said and as he held out his hand Kingdom Key appeared right before their eyes. "I don't think I'm ready to have such a gigantic responsibly like this. I wanted to be a soldier for the capital, not a Keyblade wielder…" _

Everything went back to normal and instead of finding people I found the darkness once again. '_So then, he had Kingdom Key… But the sphere's did they lie to us? They showed us something completely different, or maybe it was because of…_'

_"I was chosen to wield Kingdom Key…" I told her. _

It was back when I was able to see her for the last time, in Radiant Garden; after Reeve had told me that she was there. A lot of things had happened after those seven months, but I never told her about the Keyblade I had given up.

_"Why didn't you take it?" she asked looking back at me for a moment, her dark brown eyes held curiosity towards the whole event. _

_"Darkness seemed better… I wasn't afraid of the darkness…" I told her, and she looked lost in thought. _

_"Darkness always has that allure to it…" she said hugging her knees. "At least you do have the 'Way to Dawn'." _

I sighed again, losing myself in those memories. "I can't really regret anything now…" I said softly looking up, staring into the dark abyss.

'_A moment ago you were trashing about saying you regretted everything, and now you've done a 360 degree change, I'll never understand you human…_' it wasn't Ignis' voice but someone completely different, '_My name is **Vieh** and like my name states, I'm a beast…_' there was a certain husky growl to it all.

"Were you that yellow eyed thing?" I asked thinking back to the whole scenario. There was this intense pain from the side of my neck. I flinched and brought a hand over to it.

The thing by the name of 'Vieh' was snickering.

'_Well yes, and no, I'm you, the _**beast**_ you try to hide. I know how you act, especially when around that girl, I just wanted to see when I'd come out and play, and well today is the day, with that nasty Heartless gone…_'

"In case you didn't notice _Vieh_," I said coldly. "I have no physical body… So how do you…?"

'_Ah, you'll see my little buddy. You'll see, I just need permission from the one who calls us 'you' but not 'me'._' Vieh was a rather strange disembodied voice; it'd speak in rhymes at times. '_Anyway, I'll be here for a VERY long time, so until then this is a sort of…_'

"Goodbye?"

This is just great now it's got me speaking in its weird little manner. Just _great_, as if things couldn't get any weirder than they already are.

**A m a t e r a s u **

"I knew it!" I whispered jumping up and down. "I had a feeling you'd go to him sooner or later." I cleared my throat and noticed that something with wings was coming in our directions. I scrunched up my nose and sighed for a moment. '_Well that's the only good news going for me…_' the raven perched up on my shoulder, and I shooed it away. "Come on, you know where I am, now just go back already…" I said trying to shoo it away with my hand. "Go you little bird…" the raven cawed in retaliation and if flew off again, somewhere, it was probably going somewhere so that it could feast. "So then, you happy now?" Lightning asked and I turned to look at the blue eyed Heartless. "Yeah…" I said nodding my head slightly.

Somehow we walked down the ruined hallway and past the rotten archways of the hideout, and found ourselves outside for a moment, staring at the sand before us. The winds were starting to pick up, kicking up some of the ground from the desert that was a couple of miles away. Somewhere in the distance Versus was with his men, preparing for what they called the 'Second Keyblade War' but it didn't seem like a second coming, but rather another beginning of destruction. '_And he's out there somewhere…_'I thought looking out into the distance. My heart beat was slower than usual, which meant that _he_ was closer than ever.

_Amaterasu… _

It sounds so much like his voice, but I can't feel anything now, my heart won't race. It's because _he's_ too close to this world. I'd give anything to hear Riku's voice just once more, to at least hug him or something. I'm asking for a miracle at this point, because he's gone now. I don't want to accept the fact that he's gone from this world, but what else can I do now? To be honest the deities haven't been that kind to us since we started our journey, and they have every right to, but they didn't have to take Riku into the equation of my unhappiness. They subtracted him from my life now, as you can probably tell, but somehow I want to be able to say something. "He's out there somewhere…" I told myself right now, whispering it as the winds began to pick up again.

_I really wish you could hear me, but I doubt it… _

"I can hear you just fine, Riku… Riku…?" I asked softly blinking for a moment. The only thing before my eyes was just sand, and ruins, and nearby buildings from a city. '_I must be losing it or something…_' I thought shaking my head for a moment. Lightning asked me if I was all right, and I told her that I was okay. I know she worries about me, but I don't want her to, it's not the nature of a Heartless to care, but since she's been with me she's gotten at least one heartbeat.

_I could've sworn I heard your voice just now…_

You did, at least I think you did, but what do I know?

_Obviously not a lot if you don't even know… But anyway if it's a trick of the mind then I'm purposely putting myself in this hole. Everything's dark down here, and well I miss you… _

"Now I know I'm not crazy…" I said moving forward. I heard his voice that was his voice, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

**With the black suited Heartless **

Xehanort sighed, feeling hot air press against his face. '_That damn child, calling me Terra…_' he thought as he continued his search for the Dark Princess. '_Why does he want me to find her, she has no other purpose now. To be honest she's better of going into the next life she's lived up to her purpose._' The Heartless paused taking off the black faceguard and breathing in the air outside of his suit. If he had a heart this place would've seemed awfully familiar to him, but that wasn't the case now. '_I don't even…_' he thought back to when Riku had dozed off in memories, he had a clear picture now of what the **_Atrum Procer_** looked like. The desert wind became less of a problem as he soon reached an abandoned warehouse of some sort. The scent of age crept up alongside the warehouse, and it was slowly breaking apart with age.

'_He said she smelled of cherry blossoms…_' Xehanort thought pushing back some of the silver wisps of hair from his face. He sighed once again and continued to walk in search of the girl. '_She amalgamates with the scent of Heartless and flowers, that much I know from that damn boy…_' for a moment the Heartless could pick up the aroma of the familiar combination of the scent, the wind was carrying it from somewhere. '_Over there…_' he thought placing the black faceguard over his face once again, and set of with his Keyblade ready in hand.

Amaterasu sighed for a moment looking again up at the sky, the wind began to die down, and Lightning had gone back inside for a while, to 'rest' as she called it. '_At least it was fun while it lasted…_' she thought thinking back to the event of hearing Riku's voice pop in her head. The girl sighed heavily leaning against one of the fallen columns, a lizard moved in on her arm. With its tongue it lightly felt the human girl's skin, smelling her scent, and scurried off in the opposite direction. "Even an animal can taste the darkness…" she said watching the lizard run off. She breathed in the air, and could feel a presence somehow mingle with the scent of the earth. '_It smells awful… Like a… Heartless?_' she thought walking further and further away from the hideout.

"I've got you now…" a voice whispered in back of Amaterasu. She felt metal lightly touch the side of her neck, and she flinched for a moment.

'_You got to careless!_' the other voice in her head yelled at her, punishing her.

'_Yeah well I'm sorry, I guess this is what it means when curiosity killed the cat… what a crappy way to die…_' she thought noticing the weapon was a Keyblade of some sort.

'_Focus silly girl!_' A black faceguard was the only thing she could see, as she finally was able to put some distance between herself and the mysterious figure. Her Keyblade 'Way to Night' appeared in her left hand, cautiously moving it towards her body in defense.

"What do you want?" she asked, watching the red and black Keyblade for a moment. The strange black suited Heartless let out a chuckle of some sort, and brought the Keyblade to a fighting stance.

'_Satisfied?_' the voice in her head asked.

'_Not really…_' she thought watching the figure move forward now. She jumped back, and blocked an overhead attack, the _clank_ sound of metal against metal. '_Firaga…_' flames came forth from the tip of her weapon and the black suited Heartless countered with a Blizzaga spell all on its own.

"…" the Keyblade from the opponent went flying through the air like a boomerang, and Amaterasu barely had time to dodge it with a back flip. The edge of the Keyblade hit part of her ankle, and she landed wrong, falling on the ground with a loud thud. '_You're gonna pay…_' she thought and the Heartless caught a glance of yellow flicker within her eyes. Xehanort smirked feeling the pressure around him change for a moment. If he were human his heart would've felt heavy, but since he was a Heartless it didn't apply to him at all. Within moments he looked forward, and from the dark mist that began to clear, he spotted a black humanoid Heartless, depleted of a Keyblade.

"It's been a while **_Atrum Procer_**…" Xehanort said chuckling at the sight of the humanoid Heartless. It growled at the sight of the other Heartless known as Xehanort, and the Heartless brought his weapon down. Amaterasu ran forward on all four charging straight at him with a different kind of energy. "…" her claw was raised high and mighty in the air ready to slice whatever stood in her way. Amaterasu wanted to see crimson ribbons stain the floor. Xehanort rose up his weapon to block the attack, and was moved back an inch from the force of the speed. "…ugh…" he flinched and his hand quickly went over to his side, feeling pain. He was surprised to see that the shockwave had sent a quick blow to the side of him

Purple and black mingled together, setting a strange aura around her frame. Yellow eyes stared hungrily hoping to see the Heartless Xehanort flinch again in pain. The entity before Xehanort now knew no other emotion but rage, and she wanted to let it all out. She ran forward again, black mist followed wherever she went, and Xehanort was on the ground trying to thrust back the Heartless that wanted to claw his eyes out. Her black claws managed to crack the black tinted visor from the faceguard, and before letting her get to close he found the strength to push her off. Her body rolled backwards and she let out a vicious roar. Yellow eyes found amber eyes, and for a moment she paused on her assault.

**With the others **

Sora kissed the ground of the distorted world known as the End of the World. Being cooped up too long within a gummi ship would do that to a person. Roxas helped the little girl known as Marlene down from the red gummi ship, and looked back at the blue and black painted ship as it finally landed down. Denzel was still asleep and Aerith decided to stay with him until he woke up.

"Did you sleep well?" Roxas asked the girl and she nodded, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"Do you know where my dad is at?" she asked. '_How can I tell a kid that her father was taken by the Heartless?_' he thought looking away from the brown eyed girl.

"No…" Roxas said feeling melancholy at the moment and shook his head, "but he told us to take care of you, for when he gets back. Is that okay with you?"

Marlene nodded and took Roxas by the hand. '_So I'm a doting parent now…_' he thought walking Marlene along the distorted world. Sora went off with several other people to look around the world once again. '_You, a family guy?_' Sora's voice rang out in his head, and Roxas felt a smile creep up on his lips.

"That is the last time I'm letting you take directions!" someone said as the door _whooshed _open from the black and blue painted gummi ship. Reno was grumbling something rather 'unfitting' for young ears, and Roxas covered the young girl's ears.

"I'm sorry!" Zack said laughing for a moment, "Sephiroth come on, get out here!" Cloud sighed for a moment and waited for Sephiroth to leave the gummi ship, he just wanted to sleep. '_Finally…_' he thought closing his eyes for a moment. He heard someone rustling around the ship, and kept one eyes open, a familiar man with black hair gave him a small smile. "You too buddy." He said forcing the ex-SOLDIER up from his slumber. Cloud growled for a moment and got up.

Nanaki, Yomigami and Yuffie had gone with Sora to see the world. "Look a Moogle!" Marlene cried out happily noticing that Reeve, Cid, and Shera were walking alongside the red pompom wielding creature. Roxas looked back and smiled for a moment. '_Naminé loves them too…_' he thought and looked back at the red gummi ship. He noticed that Cloud walked in there.

**With Sora **

Sora sighed for a moment and they all stopped at the ravine of the End of the World. Everything seemed to beautiful, crystals were sparkling, and each step you took little showers of light seemed to spread out for a moment. The world though, despite the calm appearance, was home to the Heartless. "So then, we're going to use the dark terminals?" Yomigami asked looking at the back of Sora's spiky hair. The Keyblade wielder nodded and looked back at Nanaki and Yuffie for a moment.

"Hold on, you know about the terminals, Yomigami?" Yuffie said, finally letting it click in her head. "I thought that info was closed to the public…" she said noticing that Yomigami was rubbing the back of her head. "We used the dark terminal to get to Destiny Island… Just like the Heartless do. It's not that hard to use…" He admitted to using it, but only once.

"See this way without depleting fuel, and supplies we can travel to Sunset Horizon." Sora said letting his mind fix things together.

"Wait, but when we want to go back we'll have to go through the heart of the world…?" Yuffie asked hoping that it wouldn't be true.

"I guess so…" Sora shrugged for a moment and looked back at Nanaki and Yomigami. "Either that or have Yomigami conjure up another dark portal," and Yuffie shuddered as Nanaki offered that bit of advice.

"I don't like those portals…" she said feeling her stomach churn for a moment.

"You get air sickness and motion sickness… I'm beginning to think you're a hypochondriac, Yuffie…" Yomigami said placing his hands on his head, and stretching for a moment.

"I am NOT!" she said blowing her cheeks up. Sora laughed a bit and stopped noticing Yuffie's death glare, and he gulped.

**Sunset Horizon **

Amaterasu opened her eyes groggily, and found herself staring up at two blue eyes. "Where…" she sat, and winced feeling her head spin. "Take it easy…" the figure said. '_That voice…_' Amaterasu finally put two and two together. The two were in the room of the younger girl, and she was resting back on her soft mattress.

"Lightning…?" the girl still couldn't organize her thoughts yet. "What happened?" she asked feeling some bandages that were wrapped around her arm. The Heartless explained the form that she found her in, and Amaterasu thought back to the figure dressed in black, with the black faceguard. '_That black clothed solider…_' she thought. For some reason he seemed really familiar but she couldn't put it together at all. "He smelled like a Heartless…" Amaterasu said softly, closing her eyes once again.

"Just don't go all berserk again…" Lightning said rubbing the side of her shoulder. "You really do like trashing around like some caged animal in that form…" Amaterasu opened her eyes again and looked back at Lightning; she had her shoulder wrapped up. "Don't worry I won't tell Maleficent anything about this."

"You never tell her anything…" the girl said knowing that she had nothing to worry about. '_Still I wish I could remember what had happened exactly; I must have been pretty ticked off if I can't remember that fight…_' the dark eyed girl sat up once again, this time steadying herself as Lightning relaxed for a moment. "Was there anyone there?" Lightning shook her head. "Huh…" she said to herself and breathed in for a moment. Her head was pounding.

'_He's coming, you can feel it can't you?_' the voice hissed in her mind and Amaterasu took the moment to listen to the beating of her heart, it was very slow, slower than it normally was. '_He's really close now…_' the girl thought and Lightning was sensing the presence as well. '_Pretty soon it'll feel like I can't breathe…_' she thought looking back at the bandaged arm. There was a strange scent in the air now; it seemed really familiar to the two individuals. "Sea-salt?" the Heartless asked titling her head. "What would this scent be doing here?"

"Riku…" Amaterasu whispered cautiously to herself. '_He smelled like sea-salt…_' she thought back at that certain event. The girl shook her head trying not to let anything get to her at this point. '_Is it really you Riku?_' but nothing responded to her thoughts. '_Maybe I was just imagining that conversation…_' she thought looking back down at her feet, her shoes were still on and they were covered with dirt from the outside. "I kind of like the smell of sea-salt, it's better than the Heartless scent…" she realized what she said and looked back at Lightning. "I mean, well… What I'm trying to say is that… You … You're…"

"No offense partner…" Lightning said smiling for a moment. "I'm surprised you don't smell like sea-salt, you just about ate that for almost a whole year along with a whole mess of other foods…" Amaterasu gave a sheepish grin and sighed happily, it was a change of persona, meaning that the mood swings would set in once again. "I'm gonna be really happy when _he_'s gone, it's weird feeling one emotion the first second and then yelling, or crying the next…" Lightning said recounting everything that was stirring up in her slow beating heart.

"Riku smelled like sea-salt…" Amaterasu said noticing a smile creep up, etching on to the corners of her mouth. She completely ignored what Lightning was saying. "So maybe…"

**A/N: You know what to do _one_ review please! **

Random fact, in the song Passion and Sanctuary there's a reversed lyric that says 'so many ups and downs' which is the title of this chapter, so yeah just thought I'd let you know.


	41. Tot altus itaque mugio SECUI DUOS

**A/N: Here is part two of the chapter you guys, and next after this shall be the finale, wow after a couple of months, I'm gonna cry! **

**Anyway our good/bad/confused little Ex-Chaser _Amaterasu_ will be featured in Xejicka's fanfiction for a cameo appearance soon be sure to check it out!**

**sorasheart281: **Thank, thank, thank you! Hey I found you haha! Anyway thank you so much you! I can't express it enough.

**Xejicka: **My awesome reviewer of all! Thank you SO MUCH. I'm glad you liked the names, and your randomness and mine kinda pulled me out of the last minute writers block that was plaguing me a couple of days ago.

**Rozen-san: **I really hope there aren't a lot of typos in this, I mean I am human after all. Hey I've never gotten a 9.5 on anything, until now. Thank you for your words of wisdom and inspiration, I wish there were more people like you out there.

**DJ Diddy Dog: **Thank you so much for the review, and here you are up again on my thank you list. Thanks a lot man!

**On with the story!**

**Chapter 41: Tot altus**** itaque mugio SECUI DUOS** (so many highs and lows, part two)

A strange beast with horns walked around the assembly room of a certain witch, smelling the air for a moment. Massive paws walked down the hall, their claws tapping against the surface, creating a light _click-click_ noise whichever way it went. Its looks were like a mixture between a lion and a wolf, with two horns on the front of its head; they arched outward like a stag. One yellow eye and one turquoise eye stared at the objects all around the room. It noticed that there were seven humans that were asleep, floating with a sort of black aura all around them, and a machine that was suppose to gather some sort of energy. '_Flowers…_' the beast thought shaking its body, the silver colored fur moved slightly, dusting itself off. It could smell the scent of sweet flowers, and that was his mission, to find the one who smelled of those sweet flowers.

It noticed a raven that was eyeing it strangely, and before the bird had a chance the beast pounced on it. '_Here birdie, BIRDIE!_' it growled pinning the animal between two of its clawed 'fingers' so to speak. The bird squawked and the beast noticed that it smelled like Heartless. '_But it's not one… Maybe it has an owner that does know where the girl is at…_' the beast thought picking the bird by the wing, with its fangs. '_It tastes like one too; dang this thing flew the coop…_' it found itself walking down the old ruins.

'_Vieh what the hell are you doing?_' a somewhat forgotten voice popped into its head.

'_Ah it's 'we' long time no talk, right? Haha… I found your little flower, she's somewhere around her, and Master will be pleased and soon he'll come here, once I give him a signal…_'

'_That last part didn't rhyme…_' Riku could be heard laughing at the beast and the animal growled, terrifying the bird in its mouth.

'_Yeah well I'd like to see you try, you stinking human… Besides I'm not here to amuse you! I'm here to work, you damn little thing you._' The raven was cawing, but the beast growled again to keep it from giving away its position. '_I'm close…_' it thought making its way to a familiar scent, but it wasn't from the one he was looking for, instead it was a witch. '_Great… Ignis said to get rid of those that weren't the **Atrum Procer**…_'

**A couple of feet away **

'_Silver fur?_' the girl thought trying to make sure it wasn't a trick of the mind. '_It smells like sea-salt ice-cream…_' she thought breathing in the scent.

'_Hey be careful, I don't want a repeat of last time…_' Amaterasu's inner voice managed to provide some words of 'encouraging' wisdom.

'_You're not the one who gets their ass kicked…_' she retorted and shook her head.

'_Yeah well I have to live in YOUR body…_' the inner voice said, hissing for a moment at the girl's carelessness. Amaterasu laughed, the inner voice held some truth.

'_I never thought a Heartless like you would care…_' with that she walked forward looking around trying to figure out where the scent came from.

There was a loud and terrifying scream that sent her whole Heartless like sense a twitter. The scent of blood was stronger than ever, just enough to get her eyes to turn yellow. No rage, just thirsting out to taste the warm crimson substance. Her yellow eyes looked around, mixing sea-salt with the scent of blood and it felt so strange to her now. A flash of silver streaked right past her, and she found the source of the scream. There on the floor of another chamber room lay a mess of black and green. Red liquid seeped into the cracks of the old ruin, yellow eyes that once held evil seemed to fade away. A black cape seemed to be torn to shreds mixed with more crimson. The crimson ribbons the girl once wanted to produce were on the floor, slowly flowing down the way towards her feet.

Maleficent, the once well known mistress of evil, was now concentrated to something of unspeakable manner. Amaterasu looked at the fading yellow eyes, and the scent of sea-salt filled the room for a moment. '_So our killer is the sea-salt perfumed fiend… What fun…_' she thought sarcastically. Again she still couldn't help but smile watching the witch's fate right before her very eyes. '_That thing must be strong to kill her like that… It probably ripped her insides to shreds…_' this was her dark side talking, and the girl laughed for a second or two, taking a moment to let it all sink in. The raven was shrieking and cawing madly at the sight of it all, and the girl sighed. "Be a good birdie and leave…" Amaterasu said trying to get it to leave the room.

The beast stopped for a moment its delicate silver lined ears picking up the sound of what it could only describe as 'her', the flower. It growled for a moment and watched the end of the hallway to try and catch the person that walked down the corridor of the area. The yellow eyed figure stopped staring back at the turquoise and yellow eyed beast.

"You're the one that smells of sea-salt?" the figure asked, noticing the crimson stain across the silver fur. Vieh growled for a moment noticing the scent belonged to the figure down the hallway.

'_Don't hurt her…_' Riku warned the beast in control.

'_You'd better tell her that, I mean she might not even remember you… She's got yellow eyes…_' the beast noticed that Amaterasu was walking closer and closer to it. Vieh growled trying to get her to back off, but it wasn't working.

"What's your name?" she asked, as softly as she could. Amaterasu wasn't afraid of the animal, but still she knew that she should be cautious. Her hand was held out, and the beast growled again, hoping that the human would get the message to leave.

'_She's not going to; I mean she loves things that look like a dog…_' Riku could be heard snickering within the mind frame of the animal.

'_You mean like you?_' the beast responded, and then decided to give a hoarse laugh. Vieh growled again, but he stopped feeling a soothing hand on the top of his head.

"So you're the one that did Maleficent in, I'm impressed, I've been wanting to get rid of her for a while, I guess you beat me to it, little thing…" for a moment yellows eyes stared back at the two colored eyes, and she felt a smile creep up on her. "You have his eye…" she said, the beast feeling another pat on its head, "and you smell like him too…" she said feeling some remorse in her voice. Amaterasu stared at the silver fur, that covered the creature, and she sighed. "Yeah… you even have the same fur color, silver, just like his hair…" she chuckled, and her yellow eyes flickered again for a moment, the scent of blood staining her nose. She looked back at her hand noticing it was stained with the dark crimson substance, and wiped it on the wall of the crumbling hideout.

'_She's strange, really strange…_'the beast thought sitting down for a moment eyeing her. '_Well he knows that she is here, and he'll come in a while, until then I guess I'm going to have to get acquainted…_' the beast thought rubbing against the leg of the girl known as 'Amaterasu' or the **_Atrum Procer_**.

"I really wish you could talk…" Amaterasu said leaning against the wall of the hallway, she slumped down at stared again at the yellow and turquoise eyes.

The beast yawned, showing off its sharp fangs and pink tongue, the scent of sea-salt was stronger than ever. '_I don't mind using the girl as a pillow though…_' Vieh thought resting his head on the girl's lap.

'_HEY!_' Vieh could hear Riku growl somewhere in his mind now.

'_Relax human…_' Vieh thought closing his eyes as Amaterasu stroked the top of his head. The girl sighed and felt her heart stop beating for a moment. '_He's here… I can feel it…_' she thought feeling her eyes widen. No doubt Lightning could feel it, and she was probably coming this way.

**The Dark Master **

Ignis felt relieved of having Riku preoccupied with the beast known as Vieh. For now he was able to move freely, for only a little while, and soon Vieh would come back and be forced back within the body of the Dark Master. There was nothing else he could do now but just wait for Vieh to bring the girl. '_Riku won't let his beast do anything though, I haven't broken him yet…_' Ignis thought feeling some displeasure of it all. He sighed heavily and waited, resting against the stone column of the area. He watched the Princesses of Heart, and how the dark aura just seemed to hover about their body. They were asleep, no doubt waiting for his return, and to finally give back the power he once held within his grasp.

In the distance he noticed that a silver tinted beast was trailing blood as it walked along the hallway into this certain room. Ignis followed Vied with his amber eyes, and noted that a girl was resting on the back of the creature, and a woman with blonde hair accompanied them, she eyed Vieh with her blue eyes for a moment. The blonde haired woman picked up the girl, and the beast growled at the sudden action, but Ignis just looked at Vieh so he was forced to stand down, and finally sitting next to the woman. Amaterasu opened her eyes and noticed that she was looking down at the floor; blood stained the ground and her hand.

"Lightning?" she felt her body touch the ground, and looked up at the familiar crimson fabric, the scarf. The blue eyed Heartless nodded, and the girl felt relieved for a moment, she looked back at Vieh, and for a moment she saw Riku take the place of the beast. '_Riku?_' she thought. Amaterasu sighed for a moment and stood up, and the girl looked back up noticing those dreaded amber eyes, and the white goatee, the tanned skin, the aged look, and the senses running through her body, it was _him_. Her heart stopped beating, and her eyes went wide. '_After all these years…_' the girl thought. She could feel her body shake, her insides were screaming and her heart was starting to rip apart.

"**_Atrum Vinco of the Vesica of Keys_**…" those words seemed to fall so graciously from her lips, but fear was addressed at the mention of the title, and the **_Atrum Vinco_** was pleased.

**Sora and the others **

"HIYA!" Yuffie watched as Yomigami blocked Sora's attack, sending the brunette backwards into the wall of a nearby area. Yomigami's eyes flickered with a yellow tinge, and Sora braced himself, watching a flying chakram coming straight at him. '_REFLECT!_' the boy thought sending the thunder filled weapon back to where it came from. The boy pushed himself off quickly and tried another attack. He ran forward letting Ultima weapon drag across the Heartless stained floor, casting Firaga, as he let the flames consume the weapon. Yomigami couldn't stand the immense heat, so he jumped back, avoiding the flames that shot out. Sora smirked and sent his Keyblade forward again, but Yomigami blocked it with both of his chakram's and a dark aura began to engulf the two identical weapons.

Sora felt a strong wind whip around him and he tried his best to block the parry of attacks, metallic weapons pounding against the Keyblade, that was held in a certain stance to give defense.

"Come on Sora, what's wrong?!" Yomigami said taunting him, noticing that Sora inched farther and farther away from him. Sora maneuvered quickly spinning around to the left side, and connected his Keyblade with the chakram, to keep Yomigami from moving for a moment. Yomigami didn't have time to recover, and Sora's gloved hand took hold of the razor sharp chakram that was within his grasp.

"Thundaga!" he cried out sending a shockwave of electricity through the metallic weapon, and into the body of his opponent. Both of the guys were sent flying backwards at the force of the attack, feeling the surge of energy jump out at them. Yomigami's eyes went back to their normal shade of a dark purple tint of some sort, and Sora struggled to sit up, feeling an open wound on his left hand.

"Damn… Yomigami…" Sora said panting for a moment, and he noticed that his Keyblade was nowhere within sight, it had gone back to its keychain form, hanging on the loop of the side of his long, black fabricated shorts. The older girl's brother lazily sat up feeling strands of his hair sit up. Nanaki sat up with Yuffie and sighed for a moment.

"Are you two all right?" Yuffie asked worriedly, she noticed several bruises on Yomigami, and Sora's wound on his left hand. Yomigami nodded and looked back at Sora who stared down at the ground for a moment.

"I thought for a moment that…" he flinched a bit as Yuffie lightly touched his arm, "…that you were going to use Anti-form…" he said, and Sora looked back up at him for a split second. Yuffie muttered something along the lines of 'Curaga' on the two people.

"I'm saving that for _him_…" Sora said clenching his fist tightly.

**Back to Roxas **

"So Naminé is sleeping?" Marlene asked, watching the blond haired teenage girl rest against the beige bed sheets. Roxas nodded, and felt a pair of brown eyes just gawk at him for a moment. He looked back at Marlene, who seemed to understand what he was feeling. "She'll wake up, you'll see." The dark brown haired girl said trying to lighten up the mood of the crestfallen boy. Roxas held up a rather weak smile, but the girl passed it off as a genuine one. "You know, she is really beautiful," the girl said noticing the angelic face of the female Nobody and Roxas felt the blood rush to his cheek's he was blushing for a moment. '_Ha! You're blushing Roxas!_' Sora's voice echoed all the way through the hallway of his mind, teasing him to just about no end.

"Yeah… She really is beautiful," Roxas said breathlessly thing back to the times when Sora and Kairi were together.

_"How long do you think this will last?" the blue eyed teen asked the angelic figure. She turned around, wisps of blonde hair lightly touching her cheeks; Naminé pushed the wayward strands out of and view, and put her hands together, fingertips touching fingertips, lost in thought for a moment. Roxas looked at her for a moment as she thought. He found it curious the way she would think, with her fingertips, that was her trademark stance all right. _

_Naminé put her hands down, arms resting on her lap, as she leaned forward in her brown wooden chair. The walls before them seemed distorted with stars covering the ceiling. This was another training room from which was created of Master Yen Sid. _

_"I don't know, Roxas…" Naminé answered truthfully, looking up at one of the stars, they twinkled when any small fragment of light came into the room. "But I know this won't last long…" _

_"I wish it would," he said fidgeting with the rings that were on his fingers. He heard Naminé chuckle for a moment and he felt something strum within what he felt was his 'heart'. 'Why do I feel like this when I'm with her? Do I love her? Can I even love her? Do I even have the 'heart' to love her?' Roxas thought looking up at the same star that caught Naminé's attention. "Nobodies aren't suppose to feel, right?" _

_"Uhn…" Naminé nodded absentmindedly and caught herself, looking back at Roxas confused for a moment, her finger tips lightly touching her lips for a moment. "Why?" she asked in that soft tone of hers. _

_"Something just crossed my mind," Roxas said brushing off the question. He laughed and found light blue eyes stare back at him with the same expression he held within his soul, 'heartless'. _

_"It's going to end pretty soon Roxas," she said, and Roxas watched her lips pronounce the last syllable of his name. He sighed for a moment and found his eyes wander to the tip of his shoes. _

_"It never does last long…" he said feeling a strange light surround the two of them. In their disappearance two other individuals seemed to appear, and took their place on where they sat before. Kairi looked back at catch a final glimpse of Roxas, and soon she found Sora's eyes stare back at her… _

"What are you thinking about, Roxas?" Marlene's voice broke his thoughts, and he blinked for a moment. He looked around, staring at where he was at now, and then looked down to find Marlene's confused gaze upon him.

"The good times we've had," Roxas said taking a hold of Naminé hand. It felt lukewarm now, since Aerith had been treating her for the past couple of hours. Marlene placed her small hand on top of the boy's hand to try and share her comfort with him.

"We're gonna have plenty of good times when she wakes up." She said and for once Roxas was able to smile at her.

'_But for how long?_' he thought gripping Naminé's hand for second or two.

Outside Aerith and Cloud had left Marlene and Roxas alone with Naminé for a while. The boy by the name of Denzel stayed close to Aerith, and at one point he accidentally called her 'mother', but Aerith was use to it for some reason, but the thought of her being a mother made her cheeks turn a light shade of pink. Cloud blinked for a moment, and rested against the side of the gummi ship. '_This is what we're reduced too, just to take refugee in a place where the worlds get left behind, just great…_' he thought looking into the distance. He could see Zack, Tifa and the others talking about something, but he didn't really want to bother making contact with them, _especially_ if Sephiroth was there.

"Don't let him get to you, besides…" Aerith's green eyes looked back at Cloud, watching his brow scrunch up together for a moment, "a little certain _somebody_ told me that _he_ helped _you_," she said poking the side of his shoulder. His blue eyes dodged the intent gaze she placed on him, and she had got him cornered. '_That was only once, what difference does it make if he helped me or not?_' he thought looking away from her, '_You guys use to be friends…_' his conscience finally shined in on him, '_it was all his fault, she almost got hurt, and I didn't want to remember that day…_'

"I can't… Not when he almost hurt you…" Cloud said softly, and Aerith watched the concerned features etched all over his face. He heard Aerith say something along the lines of 'is that why?' and Cloud knew that to her it sounded a bit childish. "I wanted to keep you safe, but I couldn't… He almost hurt you, and…" Aerith leaned against the side of the gummi ship and Cloud watched her for a moment.

"That was a long time ago, Cloud," she said meaning every word of it all. "He's apologized countless of times for that. If it hadn't been for him, you probably wouldn't even be standing here next to me right now, Zack told me what happened," Aerith said. '_I really should thank him for taking care of him that day…_' the flower maiden made a mental note of it. "Anyway…" she stopped noticing that Denzel was tugging at her arm. "What is it, Denzel?" she asked.

"Marlene's calling for you," he said softly pointing to the gummi ship.

**Several weeks later, two to be exact **

Rinoa sighed and let her head rest gently on the make shift pillow she liked to call Squall. The brown haired man grunted as Rinoa placed her whole weight on him, and he had trouble sitting up. "Sora really wants to attack the Dark Master," she said holding some concern for the boy. Rinoa found a pair of blue eyes staring at her from the mess of brown hair, and she frowned for a moment noticing that Leon was trying to say 'so what about it?' "I mean, come on Squall. He can't do this by himself, Sora's going to get himself killed!"

"He's got friends beside him, you know what," he said looking back at Rinoa for a moment. "Sora will be just fine, besides we'd all probably get in the way somehow. The best we can do is fight off the Heartless and clear a path for him, you know that." And Rinoa didn't really seem too pleased about it. "With that…" Squall began to sit up from the makeshift couch they were resting on, "we should start getting ready…" Rinoa sighed and looked back at Squall as he made his way through the other door of the ship.

"Sora's letting his emotions get the best of him…" Rinoa said fixing her hair. She wasn't even able to enjoy napping anymore since Sora ordered them to go to Sunset Horizon. The weather was nothing like Radiant Garden, and the desert humidity was murdering her hair, but at a time like this, her hair was the least of her worries.

Yomigami and Yuffie were outside trying to see anything useful for a hideout of some sort. So far the only thing they found was an abandoned warehouse, and when Yuffie stepped into it Heartless started to crawl out from the shadows, it had taken a while with just Yomigami and the ninja but they cleared the area, a bit bruised and tired but no casualties on their part.

"Don't EVER do anything like that _again_," Yomigami said feeling out of breath for now. "That was reckless; you act like a kid…" and Yuffie glared at him putting her foot down, rather the correct term was _slamming_ her foot down on his.

"Now _that_ was acting like a kid…" she said smiling in victory, but Yomigami just glared at her. "I was kidding, come on, Yuki…" she said calling him by his nickname, and Yomigami scoffed.

"That's the last time I'm saving _your_ ass…" the teen said looking back at Yuffie for a moment, "we should probably tell Leon and the others that we've found a hideout now…"

Leon and Aerith noticed that Yuffie was running like crazy, "Hey you guys! Check out what we found!" she yelled across the area trying to catch the attention of everyone else. Cloud pushed himself of the side of the gummi ship and looked at Yuffie as she stopped running, and pointed to the warehouse in the distance. Reno and Rude stopped their game of 'Speed' and placed the cards down on the table. The red head looked at the shuriken wielding ninja, and wondered why the heck she was yelling. Rude pointed in the direction of the old warehouse, and Reno found his 'light bulb' turn on. Zack and Sephiroth watched the warehouse in the distance, and the spiky black hared man walked forward, and the other one just waited for directions for now. Cid stuck his head out of his gummi ship, and looked at the warehouse, grinning. Shera peered out for a moment and sighed in relief.

Tifa and Reeve looked at Leon for a moment, and Leon gave out the orders to move out. "Where?" Rinoa's voice came from outside the ship, and Reno looked up watching the woman for a moment.

"The two lovebirds over there found a hideout," Reno said pointing to the warehouse with an 'ace'. " Leon's giving the signal to move out… we should probably tell that Sora kid…"

Rinoa looked back up and noticed that the other door was closed, '_He's still sleeping, poor kid he's tired from all that training, he's pushing himself too far…_' she thought.

"I'll tell him," Zack said offering his services. Rinoa nodded and Reno and Rude cleared the table and placed it back within the black and blue gummi ship.

"Thanks, Zack," Rinoa said giving a warm smile to the raven hared man.

"Ah, it's no problem…" he said waving back as he walked up the stairs and knocked on the closed door, "Hey Sora, come on kid time to wake up…" he said knocking once again. "SOOORRRAAAA….!" He said louder this time, and sighed when the door didn't open. Zack fiddled with the lock, using a little piece of a paper clip he found on the floor and forced the lock open.

Sora was sleeping peacefully on the floor, snoring lightly. '_He looks like Cloud when he's asleep…_' he thought thinking back to his good friend. He noticed that the blonde hared girl was slowly waking up from her slumber, and Zack froze. '_Wait… What's she doing in here?! I thought she was in the infirmary part of the ship… Oh man…_' he noticed that Naminé rubbed her eyes for a moment and looked groggily in Zack's direction. "Mornin' Zack…" the Nobody said yawning for a moment, "Za…ck… ZACK!?"

"…my tots…" Sora said mumbling something in his sleep as he jerked himself awake hearing Naminé yell. "It's about _time_…" Zack said sighing for a moment. "Sora we've found a good hideout and I came here to wake you up… But what I didn't know was that you had a _visitor_ so…"

"What?!" Sora's brain finally woke up. "No, no, no, you got it all wrong!" the Keyblade's 'Chosen One' shook his head. "It's not like that! Roxas, Naminé and me stayed up talking…"

"Talking?" Zack raised an eyebrow. "And where is Roxas?" he looked around for the other blonde Nobody. Sora blinked for a moment looking around the room as well.

"Here…" Roxas appeared in back of Zack, with a toothbrush in his mouth. "Who the hell was screaming like a banshee?" Zack and Sora pointed to Naminé and she felt her face get a bit hot.

**Amaterasu and the others **

"It's been two weeks since there was that strange light in the sky…" Amaterasu said looking back at Ignis. The Dark Master said nothing, leaving Amaterasu to deduce what he was trying to get at, but it was no use. "I've sent a couple of Heartless there, by the warehouse near that area, but so far not one of them have come back…" she noted that Ignis nodded for a moment. '_Riku's fighting pretty hard… He's got him all worked up, just even speaking would make him lose control of his body…_' she thought for a moment and sighed. Vieh had gone back into the mind of where ever he came from, so she was all alone, Lightning was off scouting the area.

"**_Atrum Procer_**…" Amaterasu looked back and noticed that Ignis' appearance changed. '_Is this some sort of sick joke?!_' she thought noticing the familiar figure come into view. The silver hair was the only thing catching her eye. '_He looks like him, but yet he's not…_' Riku's image was right before her eyes, but the voice was completely different from the boy she knew. "Send out more of them…" he said in a commanding tone.

"_More_ of them?" she asked wildly, tightening her fist. "I just sent about a good 345 Heartless to that God forsaken warehouse, I can't do that right _now_!" Amaterasu felt something like a sort of pressure around her throat. '_Shit…_' she thought. Amaterasu raised her arm, in order to get the pressure to subside, and with that she gave her final response. "All right…" she said noticing that Ignis smiled, it made her insides twist, watching Riku's body under that control. '_I can't take it… It makes me feel sick inside…_'

_Don't worry about it, we'll see each other again soon, I promise… _

'_I haven't heard that voice in a while… Am I going mental…?_' she thought for a moment and shook her head. She growled for a moment and walked back to the open window that gave her a view of the over looking area. She could see the warehouse just a couple of kilometers away, and she outstretched her hand, watching a purple and black aura cover her hand. '_To the warehouse…_' she thought dimly, watching something lightly cover the warehouse for a moment. "You happy now?" she asked sourly, looking back Ignis.

"_Don't_ take that tone with me…" he said eyeing her cautiously. '_This is just like Terra all over again…_' Ignis thought sourly and looked away for a moment. Amaterasu just shrugged the threat and walked back down the hallway. '_Kingdom Hearts… it needs more rage…_' he thought watching the **_Atrum Procer_** walk away.

**The Heartless **

The female Heartless pulled back, avoiding the Keyblade by barely an inch. '_If he gets me I'm a goner for sure!_' the Heartless thought jumping back again, and reflecting an attack back at the Keyblade wielder. The Keyblade wielder panted for a moment, raising his weapon high in the air, and Lightning took the chance to cast a Thundaga, knocking the wielder off balance. '_Now!_' she thought pulling the trigger, three shots rang out, and with that the brunette was knocked on the ground. Lightning panted for a moment letting the oxygen travel through her lungs, enrich her blood, and relax her muscles. The boy wasn't dead, but he was merely stunned. She looked back quickly watching several pairs of yellow eyes rush past her and onto the crowd of on comers. A shuriken zipped through the air, and Lightning reappeared to the side, panting for a moment. '_All right time for me to leave…_' she thought noticing several weapons come into view.

"Hold it right there!" Someone yelled, and Lightning had no choice but the block the attack. She noticed a pair of blue eyes look at her. It was Roxas, and he did everything he could to knock her down. Lightning was too fast for him, and she appeared in back of him, knocking him out like a piece of cake. Roxas disappeared from sight, and Lightning took the chance to force a dark portal to come into shape. She retreated, and before long the sound of feet caught up to her ears, she knew she wasn't alone.

**Leon and the others **

Reno pulled back using his Electro-rod, and stunning nearby Heartless with ease. Rude and Tifa went back to back throwing, kicking, and punching Heartless left and right. Leon, Cloud, Sephiroth and Zack, each with their own weapon of choice dismantling Heartless left and right, bodies went flying through the air as Nanaki and Umbra came into view ferociously letting the poor Heartless have it, casting magic and using what nature gave them. Yuffie jumped back as Yomigami threw one of his chakram into a Heartless and let it combust before her very eyes. "I thought you weren't going to save my ass…?" Yomigami looked back at the ninja for a moment, as she threw her giant shuriken at an oncoming Heartless. "Don't think, just do…" Yomigami said taking his weapon back into his hand and rushing past Heartless, fatally nicking the ones that came close to him.

Rinoa and Aerith were guarding the two children, Marlene and Denzel, casting attack spells like no tomorrow. Shelke and Vincent stood by them, the girl with the EM sabers ran past the Heartless, wounding the ones that came into contact with her weapon. Vincent felt his body twist into a shape, his red cloak encompassing him, and out emerged a beat by the name of Galian Beast. Shelke watched him for a moment and noticed that a dark ball of energy shot out from his clawed hand, and knocked down several Heartless.

Leon brought his Gunblade, pulling the trigger at the right moment sending a shockwave on the body of the Heartless that connected with the weapon, it flew back. Cloud spilt his sword into two, akimbo style, spinning his swords as quick as he could, trying to end the battle as quickly as he could. Zack brought his Buster Sword high into the air, and when he slammed down, the ground shook around him, with such force, sending a powerful gust of wind, dealing heavy damage to the surrounding Heartless. Sephiroth on the other hand didn't seem to waste that much time with his sword, with a simple flick of the wrist, he way his arm moved so quick and deadly, the Masamune did all the work for him, easily slicing into the flesh of the Heartless.

"Where's Naminé?" Aerith asked loudly, after casting a Thundaga spell. "I thought she was with Roxas…" Rinoa said throwing her boomerang like weapon towards a Heartless. "Sora's not here either…" Shelke said as she finished dealing a fatal blow to the back of a Heartless.

"Where the hell are they?" Leon asked, taking out his rage onto the nearby Heartless.

"Not here…!" Reeve said pulling the trigger on the automatic handgun he had at his disposal. Cid took his spear, impaling one of the Heartless and tossing over into a crowd, knocking several enemies down. Cid looked up and noticed an aircraft hovering over them. '_Shera…_' he thought hearing the earsplitting sound of a bomb go off in the distance.

**With Amaterasu and the others **

The little Heartless that sat on Amaterasu's lap squirmed a bit and looked off into the distance, its yellow orbs watching one part of the wall cautiously. '_She's back…_' Amaterasu thought thinking back to her favorite Heartless. '_At least now it's not going to be so lonely…_' she thought smiling for a moment, and the Heartless looked at a black spot that appeared to grow in size, it soon produced a human looking body from the other side of it. The girl patted the Heartless on the head to stay put, and her dark brown eyes looked at the portal for a moment noticing the crimson scarf. "We've got visitors…" Lightning said eyeing Amaterasu for a moment, and looked back at the portal. "Let them come," Amaterasu said pulling out Way to Night and she stuck her weapon into the ground. "We can take them on…"

The first to tread out of the portal was someone with blonde hair, and Amaterasu felt a growl emit from her voice. '_Darn… I can't ignore this now…_' she thought letting her Heartless self take a small hold of her stance. "Hey look!" Naminé voice called out, pointing to an abandoned Keyblade. "It looks like Riku's…" her voice trailed away as Roxas and Sora started to walk around. "Someone's here…" Roxas said. He felt some sort of pressure in the air. The girl, the humanoid Heartless, and the small pureblood Heartless were hidden by one of the ruined archways of the room. '_… Ventus…_' the girl thought, letting her Heartless like entity take control for a moment. Lightning gripped the shoulder of the girl, and Amaterasu's eyes went back to normal, the yellow tinge was erased for now.

"Ventus…!" the girl spoke out from her hiding spot. Both Roxas and Sora looked at one another, and then off in the distance from where the voice came from. Naminé looked at the shadows from the corners of the ruin, she couldn't really tell if something was moving or not. A pureblood Heartless walked out from the ruin, and walked along in a straight path, stopping about 15 feet away from the three Keyblade wielding individuals. Sora brought out his Keyblade, when he felt something put pressure on his body. Roxas jumped back and noticed that where Sora stood, the small radius around his feet was being sucked in by the darkness.

"Sora!" Roxas called out alarmed as he tried to pull Sora out of there. Naminé joined in, and as they both tried to help Sora from the portal, they failed to notice that the abandoned Keyblade had disappeared. Lightning looked back at Amaterasu as she growled, gripping the Keyblade till her knuckles were almost white. '_She's losing it now…_' Lightning thought, feeling something called 'remorse'. The darkness just kept Sora from moving, and the two Nobodies still tried desperately to pry their friend out, the little pureblood Heartless on the other hand just watched them for a moment, and looked back at the ruined archway.

**Ignis Xehanort **

'_She isn't back yet…_' Riku's words kept floating around in his mind, and the Dark Master couldn't take the voices running through the sanctuary of his mind. Ignis thought that sending Riku into the darkest part of his mind, his heart, would be enough to keep him busy, trying to break him, but Riku did the exact opposite. Ignis knew that his first mistake was finding the Dark Princess so quickly, and it gave Riku hope, that maybe, just maybe everything would be all right. '_Why isn't she back yet?_' Riku's voice floated around again. Ignis sighed for a moment staring out at the land called Sunset Horizon. Heartless were dispatched moments ago towards a capital by the name of 'Elusion-Ilusion' and Ignis knew that the invasion over there was doing fairly well. '_Someone's here…_' the Dark Master thought feeling a set a new presences within the area.

Riku stared up again at the infinite darkness that surrounded his whole presence, the sounds of several growls came and went, bringing Vieh in and out of focus from his own mind. "There's more…" the silver hared teen said softly to himself feeling the presence of several other people come within the area. He gripped his hand for a moment, feeling something shoot up from his arm, it felt hot. "I can't get out of here…" Riku said, his turquoise eyes scanning for any glimpse of light, but he didn't find anything. "I promised I'd give this back to you, Amaterasu…" he said referring to her musical device, "and I might not be able to…" he gave a forced laugh for no apparent reason. "Am I really going to be stuck in here _forever_?"

_"Riku…" he looked back at the dark brown eyes, her lips produced a small smile, and he could feel his heart skip a beat. Just having her call his name like that, it made him want to melt all the more. She wrapped her arms around him, sighing heavily. "This… This is really real…" she said half laughing for a moment. "I'm not dreaming…" Riku nuzzled against her, taking in the sweet scent of flowers, and Amaterasu looked up at the silver locks of hair for a moment. "You have no idea…" she said shyly, watching the soft turquoise eyes for a moment, "how much I love you…" she said afraid to say it out loud. _

_"I think I do…" Riku said feeling a smirk form, and he kissed the side of her cheek, and she felt like she was melting. "You know, I really thought you weren't going to say it…" he said letting his lips come into contact with hers, taking in the warmth that she had now. 'She says she's darkness, but she's wrong, she's light… she's my light…' the silver hared teen thought feeling her hand touch his cheek. She kissed him back, and slowly parted for a moment, opening her eyes slowly. There was a smile he hadn't seen in a long time, "see I was right, you look beautiful when you smile…" he said feeling a peck on his cheek. _

_"Yeah well… Keep that smile in your memory… for me… when…" she felt Riku hug her, and she paused for a moment, hugging him back. "When I can't remember…" Amaterasu said letting the last words fall into a whisper. _

Riku sighed remembering that day, it had been weeks ago, and now when he was finally within a good range of her but he wasn't able to do anything. Ignis didn't want any interference between him, and his plan to get Kingdom Hearts. Riku could feel her presence, but for some reason it wasn't like the stinging sensation he felt in his heart, rather just like a sort of pressure. "Something's happening…" he said to himself hearing Ignis' voice. '_Looks like they're no match for her…_' he thought proudly to himself. '_She'll buy us more time then,_' Ignis' was chuckling to himself.

**With the heir, Versus **

Versus felt his body hit the wall with such force that the wall started to crumble underneath him, and he had no time to react now. He grunted trying to heave himself up from the force of the attack. He could see blue visors zip past him, his soldiers were doing everything they could to protect the capital. '_No doubt the same things are happening in my other countries…_' he thought finally mustering some strength to push the debris off of him. He could see winged Heartless fly over head, and he jumped back as one of them threw energy balls. The dark blue hared man regained his composure and with a swift motion he picked up the sword that laid on the ground, and his eyes turned to a fine crimson color, '_we'll fight even after sunset…_' he thought pushing himself off of the top of the debris, and jabbing his weapon into the chest of a Heartless.

These types of Heartless were called Invisible. They were pureblood Heartless that wielded large swords. They were also winged pureblood types that were capable of moving quickly and freely through the air. Besides their sword they were able to attack with their wings, and their tails. The Invisible wasted no time in attacking quickly, as their blows were often strong enough to knock out someone, and defeat them. It was something that Versus remembered while he came across old text books when he was younger. Versus blocked an oncoming blade that was coming downward, and pushed it off with ease.

The sound of bullets filled the area as the blue visor soldiers pulled the trigger, letting the bullets penetrate the flesh of the dark beings. Several Darkball Heartless screeched in pain feeling the bullet enter their flesh. With that the Darkballs jerked to the side getting ready to attack. Versus growled for a moment, and several spears materialized at his side. The soldiers continued to attack at the approaching Heartless, but the numbers of people fighting for the cause, was deteriorating. '_They're unpredictable…_' Versus thought charging forward, '_which means I'll just have to be faster…_' with his mind he commanded one spear to move suddenly to the right, and it slammed against several Darkballs. His sword was brought up, and it swiftly sliced through several of the round shaped Heartless.

"Versus!" a female soldier ran through the crowd, jumping over Heartless as they were hitting the ground. Gunshots were bursting through the area, and several soldiers were being knocked down by Heartless. The female soldier brought her sword and with a swift and powerful upwards motion, she neatly cut the Heartless in her way. Versus looked back for a brief second and noticed the female battle armor. His swords came crashing down on another Heartless and before long the ground began to shake. A loud and earsplitting roar was heard several miles away. "Behemoths…" the female soldier said, that was the reason she came over to the heir in the first place. "They've broken through the defense within the city limits… I don't think…"

Versus point two fingers in an opposite direction and two spears moved in that direction, with un seen force, and jabbed their pointy edges within two Heartless that were going to sneak up on him. He noted that the female soldier's visor was cracked in half, exposing her human face. It was darkened by dirt, and scratches on her cheek. "We have to evacuate… lord…" she said watching as several soldiers stopped to reload, trying at the same time to dodge attacks. "We've already led some citizens to the higher parts, where the forest starts…"

Versus looked back noticing his men were falling like flies. Two soldiers were hurled back by Darkballs as the round Heartless head butted the two figures, there metallic armor created a heavy screeching noise as they skidded across the floor. The heir growled for a moment sending more spears to do his bidding. "We'll stay here…" Versus said moving forward, with his sword at his side, "you just concentrate on the ones that are up there…" He performed a Gravity spell keeping some Invisibles and Darkballs from moving while the spears did what they had to do. What he didn't notice was a Wyvern that was coming at full force as it did a nose dive, the soldier called his name out to warn him, but all that the heir saw was a blur of crimson red.

**Roxas and the others **

Amaterasu was pushed back by Roxas as she had gone and tapped into her 'berserk' mode, known as the Anti-form that Sora used. Naminé was in charge of keeping Sora safe, by all means necessary through spells, while Roxas was in charge of blocking all attacks that Amaterasu wanted to inflict on the brunette boy. The yellow eyes stared menacingly at the duel wielding blond, and she ran forward, Roxas didn't have enough time to move his Keyblades down, and the Heartless zipped to the right, avoiding the blades by a spilt second. Roxas turned around, and for him everything seemed to move slowly, with that he felt something hit his gut, and it sent him flying backwards.

"Roxas!" Naminé called out watching the blond male Nobody pick himself up from the floor. Oblivion and Oathkeeper were next to his body, and he panted looking back at the yellow eyes of the attacker. '_So then this is her…_' he thought and he could hear Sora's voice pop into his head. '_Focus buddy…_' Sora's voice warned him as the girl rushed forward with lightning speed. Roxas rolled to the right, narrowly missing a clawed hand that was about to stab him in the gut. '_AH!_' the Nobody thought watching the yellow eyes of the Anti-form, '_is she trying to…?!_' Roxas picked himself up and dodged another attack as the claws came from the side. He called out to his two Keyblades and as Amaterasu was about to deal a fatal blow he braced for impact, with a burst of light his weapons appeared and blocked the clawed hand.

The girl jumped back and noticed that Sora still wasn't moving. '_Right for the kill…_' the thoughts whispered into her head. '_No, Ignis said NOT to kill him…_' it was Amaterasu's sanity trying to fight off her own darkness. '_Then what's the point of opening Kingdom Hearts if the brat is still alive?_' Amaterasu spun to the right, narrowly avoiding the Keyblade by the name of Oblivion. '_How the hell should I know what Ignis is thinking?!_' Amaterasu responded noticing that she had Roxas pinned to the floor now. Both edged of the Keyblades were being pushed back by the girl's Anti-form. Roxas tried his best to keep a good distance between himself and the anti-form human, but it was no use, he struggled under the strength the girl found within the darkness. Scratches adorned the sides if his face, and there were cuts on the sides of his arms from the pressure of the dark aura's as they passed by him.

Amaterasu pulled herself back and looked at Naminé and Sora, they hadn't moved at all during the attack on Roxas. '_She's protecting him…_' the other voice said and the girl moved forward with swift speed, and Naminé placed a strong 'Reflect' spell, keeping the yellow eyed girl preoccupied. '_I can't move him…_' the blonde Nobody thought looking back at Sora; he held a look of worry within his eyes. "I'm trying…" Naminé whispered watching as Roxas jumped forward, with both Keyblades ready to strike. The girl didn't bother to turn around, and in the blink of an eye she already had Roxas by the throat. Roxas flailed about trying to kick her grasp away, but it was no use, the claws seemed to slowly make their way into his flesh little by little.

With her other hand the reflective spell shattered, and Naminé blocked a parry of attacks aimed at Sora. Roxas was flung back towards the two people, knocking Naminé down in the process as she caught Sora's Nobody. Amaterasu rushed in noticing that Sora was left unprotected and the two Nobodies frantically picked themselves up and ran forward. '_We're not going to make it!_' they both thought noticing Amaterasu was seconds ahead of them. Sora tried to move again, but still no luck, the portal had him glued to the ground. He braced himself with his Keyblade, knowing that he was going to get hurt. There was no way he could fight back like this. '_This is gonna hurt!_' he thought, knowing that he was going to get hit. Sora closed his eyes, and waited for that pain, but nothing happened. He opened one eye and noticed that someone was holding Amaterasu back. "That's enough!" the figure yelled pulling the girl away from Sora. With that the black portal disappeared, and Sora was able to move back a bit.

"So…ra…" he heard Amaterasu's voice as she struggled to articulate his name under the various roars and growl from her dark sided nature. One clawed hand was frantically reaching for him, and Sora's eyes widened. The figure holding her back reassured him that nothing would happen. Roxas and Naminé finally made it to Sora's side, and Roxas rubbed his neck for a moment, blood was smeared on to the side of his neck, and on his hand. They looked back as the darkness started to leave the girl's body, strands of black and purple seemed to melt off of her skin, and soon the brown skinned girl was revealed to them, her dark brown eyes gazed up at them. "Sora?" she asked feeling out of breath, and quickly Lightning released the grip on the **_Atrum Procer_**.

**R i k u **

"Vieh shut the hell up!" I yelled back at the yellow eyed creature, the beast growled for a moment but then it sat back down. Quiet for now, but I don't think it's going to last. I remember hearing Amaterasu mouth off to Ignis that much I heard. I mean it was funny, but somehow I knew that something had happened to her after she said that, because something in my heart snapped. Also there are three new energies around here, and they seem really familiar, but I can't really make them out.

I still haven't found a way out of here, and I'm staring to get annoyed by it all. Now I know how Vieh feels when he isn't outside, to think I'd understand how an animal feels, but **_ut est vita_** as Amaterasu would say. I've been waking around this dark room for who knows how long, and still I haven't been able to find anything worth noting. I think Amaterasu left a while ago, but I don't know where she is, and Lightning is with her, that much I know. '_Where is she at?_' I thought, but Ignis didn't give me answer. '_I know you can hear me…_' he knew I was impatient at this point. '_Fine be that way…_' what was the point of even trying to communicate with the enemy, but still he's the only one who has contact with the outside world, so I _have_ to be nice to some degree.

I looked up hearing something in the distance, it was a voice, but it was distorted. Other than that nothing interesting happened, and so with that I heard static ringing in my ears again.

_Amaterasu sat down on a wooden chair, she was looking over at the ruins from neighboring areas. She looked back at Ignis for a moment and the Dark Master avoided her gaze for a moment. "You carry their eyes sometimes…" Ignis said growling for a moment. Amaterasu tilted her head for a second trying to figure out what he meant by that. "Don't pretend you don't know about **them**…" he said harshly and she laughed for a moment looking away, probably rolling her eyes in annoyance. _

_"Anyway, Ignis…" she said coldly with the same edge the Dark Master carried at times. "What do you want to do with Sora? You want him dead?" _

_"We still need him," Ignis said his amber eyes watching the **Atrum Procer** for a moment. Her eyes held out the question 'why' and he was more than glad to answer her reason. "For the simple fact that he needs to complete Kingdom Hearts, each heart that is released by the Keyblade creates Kingdom Hearts, it's as simple as that…" he said in a sort of 'as a matter of fact' tone. Amaterasu nodded understanding his reason for keeping the Keyblade's Chosen One alive. "I should've really thanked Maleficent and the others who sent more Heartless into the other countless worlds, thanks to them the 'sacred moon' is almost complete." _

_Amaterasu looked away from the Dark Master for a moment feeling some hit her heart a bit. It was beating very slowly whenever he was within a good radius. Ignis sat back in his chair watching the little Dark Princess for a moment and he smirked, he knew why she was acting like that, and it gave him all the more pleasure of torturing both the girl and the boy. "I have to thank you as well Amaterasu," Ignis said in a light chuckle, "some of this wouldn't have been possible without you, sending some of the Heartless down to that warehouse… And especially I want to commemorate the action you took by giving Riku the sphere…" _

_"That's enough!" Amaterasu said gripping the edge of the windowsill, she gritted her teeth trying to block out that small action. It was something she didn't want to remember. 'It's all my fault he's like this… And I played into the hands of destiny, she wanted me to repeat history…' she thought looking down at her hand, it still gripped the windowsill. The girl felt remorse for doing that action, but in the heat of the moment she thought she was doing something good for all of them. 'I really hope they aren't mad at me…' she thought desperately knowing that somehow only several people weren't mad at her. _

I sighed for a moment looking at the pained look of the girl I came to know and love. It pained me watching her like that, and Ignis wasn't making her feel better at all. I'm not mad at her, I'm mad at myself for sitting on that damn chair from the 'Room of Sleep'. History really did repeat itself this time, and I just hope that Sora can give this a good ending.

'_Hey what about her?_' I haven't heard that voice in a while, and I knew who it was, it was Vieh, my personal companion.

"What about her?" I asked hearing the beast growl from the shadows.

'_Just thought you'd include her in your whole, Sora will help us thing…_' Vieh said whining for a moment.

"In case you haven't noticed she's not really up to it, you saw her…" I said hugging my knees for a moment.

'_Last time I checked I saw her walking around and smiling with that Heartless, what was her name…? Ah, yes Lightning…_' it said sounding proud that it remembered that fact. I looked down at what I thought were my shoes, it was true she did have Lightning to keep her upbeat, but I mean, she's human I doubt she's going to be acting like that, she may be able to hide her emotions underneath a smile, but I know she's lying to herself, and she knows that too. '_Hey what happened to the older one, the one that got his ass kicked by her? What did they call him…? Oh, Xehanort, where is he?_' the beast growled for a moment and the click-click sounds could be heard as his claws traversed across the dark room. '_Can't smell him, you think he's with him?_'

"Wouldn't doubt it…" I said looking up at what I thought was the ceiling. I just really want to get out of this hell hole. I looked at the front area, and noticed a pair of yellow eyes staring at me, I could feel a strange toothy smile directed at me. "What are you laughing about, dog?" I asked hearing Vieh clear his throat, and then the sound of grunts came rushing into my ear.

'_Be nice boy, I'm trying to escape from here too you know, now I'M stuck with YOU. Just wonderful, an entity doesn't have time to waste with the likes of things like you. Or share the same body with a Heartless that's disgusting in itself… Ah but if you've noticed when he walks out there's a small light off to the side, a bright white light, something pleasing to your eyes…_' Vieh said, and the sound of weight colliding with the ground was heard.

"Then what haven't you tried?" I asked feeling a bit strange, I mean talking to this thing.

'_Have you been listening to anything I've told you?_' Vieh sighed heavily, and slumped to the floor again, I think. '_I'm part of you, I've always been a part of you, heck I only came out recently because it was easy to spilt…_'

"A part of me?" I asked angrily.

'_Figment of your imagination turned into a reality, of some sick and twisted sort…_' Vieh said laughing loudly for a moment.

**A m a t e r a s u **

I opened my eyes once more and noticed two blonde haired people and a familiar face. '_Sora…_' I thought as I sat up and the people flinched back, their bodies were a bit tense, I could feel it. I felt something rub against me and noticed it was the Heartless from earlier. "Hey…" I whispered to it softly, and it purred. I looked back at Sora for a moment, and I could tell that something had happened earlier. "Sora…" I began to speak softly. "…hey…" I said sounding a bit weak.

"Ammi…" his voice sounded a bit remorseful, I don't know why though. He has nothing to be upset about. "Where is he?" he asked. He seemed a bit angry now. "Don't lie I know you know where he is…"

"Who?" I asked standing up, but Lightning told me to sit back down, and I felt a bit woozy. Sora growled for a moment and sat down, and the other two people sat down next to Sora. "Oh!" it finally clicked in my head. "You're talking about Ignis!" I said smiling for a moment. "That old fart he's WAAYYYY up ahead, this is just the entrance area." I said pointing them in the right direction.

The little Heartless sat next to me, and it growled smelling Sora's scent and I chuckled for a second, noticing the look in Sora's eye. "You have every right to be mad at me…"I said looking down at him, and I sighed for a bit feeling my heart stop beating for a while, I hate that feeling. "I gave him the sphere… so this is my entire fault, and I'm sorry…" I said putting my head down. "Guess I didn't do a good job at keeping him safe," I said forcing myself to laugh. "I'm sorry… About what happened to Kairi," I said noticing that Sora gripped his fist closed, trying not to hit anything, "it's not your fault…"

"You want me to say it's yours?" he asked bitterly looking at me with this sort of rage burning in his blue eyes. '_I know how you feel…_' I thought looking away from him for a moment.

"It'd make me feel a bit better if you said yes…" I said forcing a smile on my lips.

"Then it is…" he said, sounding serious for a moment.

"Sora!" Naminé said scolding him, "it isn't her fault and you now it!"

"I gave him the sphere, I carried out the order to kidnap Kairi, I sent out Heartless almost all over to the other worlds, I was in charge of kidnapping the other Princess of Hearts, it was my responsibility to find the next Dark Master, how can you say it isn't my fault!?" I asked furiously shaking my head. I felt Lightning ret her hand on my shoulder in a comforting sort of token. Naminé and Roxas looked down for a moment and I guess I was right. '_This was my fault…_' I thought sighing heavily letting it sink in.

"Since it's your fault then help me _fix_ it." I heard Sora say, and Lightning let out a small chuckle. I heard the little Heartless next to me hiss something.

"The capital?" I asked looking back at the yellow eyes of the Heartless. It was a Green Requiem that was next to me, and I chuckled forgetting how small they were. "Something's up in the capital… Hey Lightning do me a favor, go and checkout Elusion-Ilusion." Lightning nodded and went through a dark portal.

"What's up with Elusion-Ilusion?" Sora asked looking at me, narrowing his eyes for a moment. I shrugged for a bit not really knowing the answer to the question myself.

"So then, off to visit Ignis, _Ventus_?" I asked looking at Roxas and at Sora, they didn't seemed pleased with that name.

"I'd like it better if you didn't call me that ok…?" he asked trying to sound as polite as he could.

"Then this means you want me to help you?" I asked grinning.

"You're the only one who knows where he is…" Sora said shrugging for a moment and looked back to Naminé and Roxas.

"He's been expecting you; no doubt our fight gave away our location." I said fidgeting with my hair for a moment. "He's going to have all the reason to dispose of me now…" I said standing up, and dismissing the Green Requiem from its position.

**Elusion-Ilusion **

"Is this where the distress signal came from, Shelke?" Reeve asked as the gummi ship by the name of Shera hovered over the land. Shelke Rui nodded her blue eyes scanning the radar for any signs of an energy source of some sort. "Keep looking, we've got to find the direct area from where it came from…" he said concerned about the ruined look of the area. "There are multiple signals…" Shelke said projecting the screen to the other board within the conference room of the ship.

On the ground the others were dispatched fighting alongside the remaining soldiers from the Elusion-Ilusion area. Cloud and several soldiers took charge and knocked down a Behemoth, knocking the black horn clearly off the top of its head. Reno and Zack fought off Invisibles and Wyverns that were zipping about on rooftops, electricity and metal colliding with bodies, and the Heartless were dropping and disappearing like flies, and dying like them as well. Sephiroth rushed forward, his wing fluttering in the distance as he used his speed decapitating Heartless left and right as they drew close. Aerith and Rinoa fought off the Heartless like monkey by the name of Powerwild, avoiding close combat with them, and letting them taste the heat from the Firaga spells relentlessly.

"Final Heaven!" Tifa called out her attack gathering strength from her fist and plowing through a crowd of Heartless. In their wake a small explosion of some sort knocked them over and they disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

A female soldier appeared next to Rude as he used his fists to communicate with the Heartless, and the female soldier used her sword to slice enemies left and right. They were both protecting a man who was knocked unconscious by a Wyvern during a previous fight. The number of Heartless seemed to die down a bit while Vincent was in his 'chaos' mode. The demon form blasted Heartless left and right, using his claws and feet to knock them down on the ground. Nanaki used Sled Fang shooting himself swiftly through his enemies and letting them fall down to the ground. Chakrams and a huge shuriken zipped past opponents slicing the flesh of whatever it connected with. Yomigami and Yuffie were fighting alongside one another using everything they had to make the Heartless fall.

Before long the battle was starting to die down and action was soon becoming a thing of the past. The Heartless were starting to disappear now, thanks to these 'saviors' as the soldiers call them. Up within the ship named Shera, the female figure by the name of Shelke sighed and noticed that the signals were starting to fade away. '_They did their job correctly…_' she thought feeling happy as she noticed Vincent Valentine go back to his original form. Denzel and Marlene were upstairs with her watching the battle from the bigger screen besides Shelke Rui. "Did they win?" Denzel asked feeling Marlene grip his hand. Shelke turned around and looked at the two children. "We are for right now," she said in that same normal manner of hers.

"We're gonna land." Cid's voice could be heard over the intercom as the gummi ship started to descend and the children could see the ground get closer and closer. Reeve walked up towards the cockpit of the gummi ship and looked at the view of the capital. '_It's almost beyond repair…_' he thought noticing the district crumbling. '_Almost as bad as what happened in Midgar…_' he thought sighing for a moment.

Lightning sighed for a moment and looked back at the soldiers she had just helped out. '_That Green Requiem knew about the invasion…_' the female Heartless thought growling for a moment. '_What does Ignis plan to do? Get more hearts?_' she thought to herself, she came into contact with several other people who were huddling up besides the fallen person. '_Versus?_' she cautiously walked over and noticed that Versus was the one who had fallen down. He sat up roughly, shaking some of the dirt off of his shoulders and muttered something. "Thank you," he said his dark eyes looking at everyone who was around him. "Lightning…" he said softly noticing the Heartless with the crimson scarf, and for once her heart was beating like a human.

**Back with Sora and the others **

A silver coated beast lunged forward knocking both Roxas and Sora down to the ground, and each boy struggled to keep his face from being chewed off. Naminé came from behind and let her Keyblade slam into the back of the silver beast and it howled in pain, moving back. Amaterasu ran forward and spun her Keyblade around letting it connect with on leg of the silver horned beast. Vieh let out a howl of pain and snapped its jaws at Amaterasu and who ever came close enough to the beast. It charged towards Roxas as he tried to stand up, and he was pinned against the cobblestone wall. Roxas stared into he eyes of the yellow and turquoise beast. Sora rushed to help his Nobody and knocked the beast down letting Anti-Form take over this time.

Vieh growled sensing the scent of Heartless in the air, and it caught Sora's yellow eyes, and black coated body. Sora raised his claws and Vieh braced himself feeling sharp razor claws scratched the side of his ribs and Vieh caught Sora's arm in his mouth thrashing about to cause damage to the 'chosen one'. Roxas and Naminé sent out spells hitting the beast dead on in the face, and it let go of Sora and he sprinted forward knocking the beast into the air. Amaterasu threw her Keyblade in to the air letting it collide with the back of the beast, and it let out a deafening cry. For a moment Amaterasu saw Riku's pained image over the beast and her eyes widened again. '_Is it you?_' she thought capturing her Keyblade.

"You guys go on ahead!" Amaterasu said holding the beast back as had it's fangs locked onto her Keyblade. "Just go straight, you'll find him right there!" she said pushing the beast back. "Run!" she said noticing that Naminé and Roxas weren't moving, "get going!" she yelled angrily and Sora withdrew to his human form and they quickly left. The beast growled and ceased its attacks, and rubbed its horns against the wall. '_It's preoccupied with something…_' she thought noticing that it purposely hit a wall.

'_Don't hurt her!_' Riku's voice was plaguing the beast to no end and as a result it was starting to lean against the walls. '_Shut up, Riku!_' the beast responded growling again and again. It stopped and Amaterasu noticed that it picked up its ears to catch something that the human ear couldn't detect. '_Bye, Amaterasu…_' both Vieh and Riku said looking back at the girl for a second; all that was left was a trace of a silver blur before it faded.

Finally the moment Sora had dreamed of for months, he was face to face with Ignis. '_Finally I'll let the old man have it…_' Sora thought gripping Ultima Weapon tightly, white knuckles showing that he was ready to attack with everything he had. Roxas stood next to him with both of his Keyblades, and Naminé stood off to the side, with her Keyblade ready at hand. Ignis felt something twang within his mind upon gazing at the Keyblade in Naminé's ownership. '_Aqua…_' it was the only name he could think about. It had been her second Keyblade. Ignis out stretched his hand Sora pulled his arms back trying not to let the unseen force suck his Keyblade.

Roxas felt his body jerk forward and Roxas knew he had to withdraw. In a strange blue aura he was gone, and Sora's image was replaced with Roxas as he gripped the Keyblade tightly. '_Just like Ventus…_' he thought smirking for a moment, and Ignis pulled out a Keyblade that seemed strong, it was a mixture of black and red, and it seemed to be a bit worn out, noticing the aged looked of the weapon. Ignis moved forward, and a soldier dressed in black appeared before them and the soldier with the black faceguard ran forward.

Amaterasu ran down the hallway feeling the pressure around her change. '_Please don't die you guys… Please…_' she thought finally running through the archway into the room. Her dark brown eyes started to scan the area but she didn't see anyone. There was a loud crashing sound and Amaterasu hid behind one of the pillars, she was able to easily hide amongst the shadows. '_Benefits for having colored skin…_' her dark side said sensing that Ignis was around her.

"Roxas!" she heard Naminé call out in a terrified tone, and Amaterasu decided to come out of hiding. The black soldier held Roxas by his neck, and Amaterasu rushed forward feeling her inner dark side tap in. At that point she felt something hit her in the side and she skidded across the room, her Keyblade falling right beside her. The girl opened her eyes groggily to notice that Ignis was right in front of her. "And you're just like Terra at times." She made out the dusted boots her wore and the black pants.

Naminé ran towards Ignis with her weapon ready to strike, and Ignis sensed it with no ease. With a Keyblade of his own he swiftly pretended to elbow the female Nobody, but used his weapon to thrust her back, and she feel for the trap. Roxas collided with the pillar of a nearby structure and he groan in pain feeling something shoot up from his arm. It was bleeding. '_Curaga!_' Naminé thought letting a healing light touch all but Ignis. The black soldier ran towards Amaterasu and she growled jumping back and throwing her Keyblade, and he blocked it, '_Too easy to read…_' she thought sending Dark Firaga towards the Heartless dressed in armor. In a cloud of smoke the Heartless moved quickly and instead went back to Roxas and the blonde male Nobody let out a pained yell feeling the Keyblade plunge into his shoulder.

Ignis was nowhere to be seen, and Amaterasu knew where he was stationed at now. '_He's where the Princesses are at…_' she thought looking down at the other hallway at that moment. '_He's going to open up Kingdom Hearts soon…_' Everything seemed to pause for a while and their attention was directed towards the hallway, a shockwave was spreading through the land, an aura of black and purple seemed to be clearly visible as the wave knocked them all down. It ran through the whole country of Sunset Horizon. '_He's gone…_' Amaterasu thought picking herself up, and the soldier dressed in black was no where to be seen. Everything was starting to crumble. '_The Princesses!_' Amaterasu thought running forward, failing to hear Naminé call after her.

**A/N: You know what to** **do_ one_ review please!**

**I don't know if I should post an epilouge once I post the other chapter up, but I guess it'll come down to the reviews for this chapter!**

**Random fact: **Inspiratons of the day when writing this was the band Paramore, Cinematic Orchestra, Amber Pacific, and Linkin Park. Also not to mention a strange dream involving the last section titled up 'Back with Sora and the others'. That's all for right now!

Wait more, umm I don't know whether to title the finale in Latin or in another language. Suggestions would be nice!


	42. The Past Gathers together Again

**A/N: Well you guys, it's finally come down to this, but don't worry! See me again soon, or just read this whole thing and figure out my little 'extra' I suppose!**

**Xejicka:** Thank you so much for all the talks, and not to mention Amaterasu's cameo appearance in **_Discovering Fate_** it was a blast seeing her act like that. Watch out for me in the future! Thanks a bunch buddy!

**Sorasheart281:** Thank you SOOOOOO MUCH, because I did it half and half, Italian and Latin, well sort of. And I wasn't stalking you!!! XD

**Rozen-senpai:** I almost did shed a tear while writing this, but I must remember to keep my cool. Your late night talks (where I'm from…) kept my moral up, and ready to tackle on a lot of challenges within the story, and I've taken your advice to the maximum, not to mention this is the longest thing I've ever typed in my whole life! So don't hurt me if you find typos, I'm only human after all… XD

**Emalyzah:** Chica! What's up?! Thanks for reviewing my story, even though I know you're not even done with it yet, lol. Man we have pretty weird conversations don't we? Thank you so much!

**TwilightBlader:** I'm not offended, but I mean that's why I write...

In the famous words of Dante from DMC3… This party's gettin' crazy, let's rock!

**Chapter 42: Il passato arricciatura assieme ancora **(The past gathers together again) **Preteritus recolligo una iterum **

Amaterasu ran frantically through the crumbling hallway pacing herself as she felt the earth shift underneath her feet. '_They're gonna get hurt…_' she thought running through the falling debris. Naminé stayed with Roxas underneath a thick support beam hoping that everything would be all right. The blonde female Nobody tended to the deep wound that Roxas had, and she looked forward to the hallway, feeling the ground start to shake once more. '_Ammi…_' she thought watching Roxas stagger forward.

"What are you…?" Roxas heard her speak and looked back at her with a pained expression.

"Kairi and the other princesses…" Roxas said simply moving forward once again, this time Sora took the stage and left Roxas back to relax in the comfort of the mind.

Naminé stood up and walked alongside the battered Keyblade wielder and they went to the deeper chamber. Amaterasu was mumbling something looking at the device that each Princess of Heart was within and noticed that the dark aura hadn't ceased. Here the girl threw caution to the wind, and did the unthinkable in her manner. With the Keyblade 'Way to Night' she broke each glass like container, and soon broken edges of sharp debris covered the floor of the ruined chamber room.

Each crack of glass symbolized something within her mind watching it shatter as it connected with the ground. Her sorrow, anger, and guilt were breaking off into more pieces that could possibly never be repaired at this point in time. Her dark brown looked back at the Princesses that were visible in plain sight, and something still didn't seem right to her, and she could feel it. '_He has them under his control,_' the other voice echoed calmly as Amaterasu carefully lifted each titled female away from the strange broken containers. Everything seemed to be all right with them physically, except for the dark aura that was around them. '_You may not be safe either because of…'_

"I know…" she said despondently, hearing footsteps run across from the other side of the room.

Sora looked around seeing the Princesses of Heart in deep slumber, and Naminé quickly followed behind looking at the royal figures lost within their deep sleep. The Keyblade's 'chosen one' looked at Kairi and without a second thought about it he ran towards her, ignoring the sharp pain coming from his shoulder. Naminé followed in suite, running towards the familiar fallen Princess of Heart, noticing the dark and purple aura that seemed to hover around her. Sora picked her up slightly, pushing strands of her wine colored hair away from her face, and hugged her. He whispered words that could only be described as optimistic, but somehow Amaterasu thought that they fell on deaf ears, Kairi couldn't hear him.

In Roxas' and Naminé's psyche the only thing they could see replaying within their mind was the day when a certain blonde Nobody had been hit by a very powerful Blizzaga spell. Amaterasu stepped away from the scene, feeling something hit her heart heavily. Her body wandered to an open window and from there she overlooked the war-written desert of Sunset Horizon. '_I hope Versus is all right,_' she thought back to the young heir who loved his beloved capital with all his might. Amaterasu had a feeling that he would probably die for his capital, but somehow for right now that didn't seem all that likely.

"She's breathing," Naminé's voice could be heard as it echoed across the room.

Amaterasu looked from the corner of her eye slightly adjusting the position in her body to watch from a different angle. Naminé's hands hovered dangerously close to her 'other's' nostrils feeling the warm carbon dioxide release from her nose, a sign of good breathing. It was a good sign to the Nobody knowing that her 'other' was still alive. Amaterasu turned her head to gaze back at the desert; it was alone, just like how she felt right now. '_No light,_' she thought bitterly folding her arms across her chest, to make up for the lack of warmth she wanted to feel from her light.

"But what about…?" Sora began to ask about the strange aura surrounding Kairi and the other Princesses of Heart.

Amaterasu sighed softly not trying to let this all get to her, but it was impossible at this point to turn a blind eye to the whole matter. '_This is a life or death thing for every single one of us…_' she thought finally turning around and leaning against the edge of the opening from the window. "The Dark Master," she began to speak, looking down at the ground beneath her feet, "he… He has them under his disposal. He's slowly absorbing the power they hold to finally unlock Kingdom Hearts…" she said undoing one hand from her folded arms, and pointing to Kairi for a moment, "I'm sure he's already taken their energy by now, even as we're talking. Plus with your help…" she snapped her fingers.

Sora felt something heavy come into his grasp and there in his right hand was a Keyblade no less. Amaterasu forced the Keyblade 'Ultima Weapon' to appear in his hand. Sora looked at the lengthy Keyblade and looked away in disgust for a moment, withdrawing the weapon back to the loops attached to his side. There he noticed, as metallic objects _clinked_ together, all the other key chains he had acquired from several other worlds. Each one of them at one point or another in time had been used to destroy Heartless that plagued the world, defeating enemies that endangered those he called friends, the ones he came to care about deeply.

"So then if he's gone, they'll wake up?" he asked her looking up at Amaterasu, she had her back turned to them, no doubt staring at the scene once again. She vaguely nodded and Sora sighed for a moment staring at Kairi for a moment. "Then I'll have to make sure that he falls for good," the brunette said intending to keep every single word that fell from his lips.

The girl with the dark brown hair laughed a bit, feeling slightly uneasy knowing that he truly did mean every word of it. She rubbed her wrist for a moment sensing that the Dark Master was out there somewhere within the world of Sunset Horizon. '_Just what is it you want?_' she asked herself, gripping to her wrist for a while. There was no answer from the Dark Master or her dark side, and this time she knew that it was something she'd have to find out for herself.

_"Light isn't the best thing for everyone if they don't know how to use it to its potential," Ignis said walking around the room for a moment. Amaterasu was the only member in his audience and she listened intently despite the fact she didn't really like him. "Once you've actually seen what it is the light can do you realize it's just like darkness but in a different form of the sort. You cannot truly get rid of the light or the darkness for they need one another. Take shadows for example…" _

_"Ignis…" she interrupted him by gradually raising her hand. "One who talks like that, you being someone who has lived for FAR longer than I have, you mean to say that the LIGHT can actually be a bad thing at times?" Ignis gave a small chuckle and nodded for a moment. "But how? I mean why?" she asked trying to wrap this all around her little mind, but it didn't seem to stick. _

_"You'll see in time in many countless battles, like those before you, and after you." Ignis said leaning back into his chair now. The one who once held glory was held to a crumbling state forever staying within the boundary of the shadows, such was the wisdom he came to shape out and teach, and Ignis knew it all to well. He had aged while he traveled with his pupils and now here he was back in the real world, breathing and spreading his reign, with no one to stop him for the moment. "If you survive this, you'll see the next generation come and try to stop me, and you'll see sometimes the light can be truly evil." _

_"I don't understand…" she said fidgeting with her hair for a moment, and she looked down for a moment staring at the dusty boots that he wore. They seemed to have walked so many different paths once, and now they rarely got to move with age. _

_"I don't expect you too," Ignis said in his manner, a tone that made Amaterasu shiver whenever he addressed her in little remarks. "You're just like _**them**_," he said letting out a laugh and carefully placing his amber eyes on the face of the girl. She didn't how to respond to that, only making a face of confusion, causing the Dark Master to laugh at her this time. "Nothing to add then… Good you're better off silent." He said, noticing the fire in her eyes finally come alive, but quickly with one glare the fire in her eyes died all too soon. _

_Amaterasu turned her body slightly facing away from the Dark Master and gazing at the horizon that was outside of the window. The sun was slowly meeting the horizon, and therefore giving off its beautiful color of the element of time called dusk. 'I really wish you were here with me…' she thought sadly biting her lower lip. Amaterasu tried her best to mask her emotion of sadness knowing that Ignis could be as cold as ice, yet his name meant 'fire' in the language of the dead. 'He makes ice look lukewarm…' she thought folding her arms. _

_"**Terra , vos es iustus amo puer in ut voluntas**." Ignis said noticing that Amaterasu looked up at him, with watchful eyes. "Did I hit a nerve?" he asked her, and she growled for a moment, and Ignis seemed pleased the reaction on the young **Atrum Procer**. 'How am I like Terra?' she asked herself reiterating what Ignis told her moments ago. "In any case that's not anything new since you taught him a bit about darkness, am I correct, **Atrum Procer**? That's part of your job description." _

_"**EGO doctus haud talis res**!" she said yelling angrily, she had never done something like that to Terra. 'I never taught him!' she thought looking at Ignis with disgust for a moment. _

Amaterasu found herself come back to reality, she almost lost herself in the emotion of the memory from that day. '_Terra, he and Xehanort, the one from Radiant Garden are one in the same person, but Xehanort's identity was created from what we call ignorance…_' she thought looking at her feet for a moment. '_I didn't teach him anything about the darkness, he learned on his own._' She thought thinking back to when she was a kid, hearing about Ansem the Wise's lectures on darkness. The girl once walked in on Ansem accidentally after a session with Hojo, and Xehanort wasn't all that happy to see her. '_He started becoming distant that day…_' she thought sadly knowing that happiness didn't last forever. '_I never thought you'd be the first case in a long line of people corrupted by darkness… I am still the Dark Princess and you were the second generation of being the Dark Master…_'

Sora looked up finally and watched Amaterasu for a moment trying to figure out why she was lost in thought. For a moment something within his mind broke off, his vision became distorted. He didn't see the girl he knew, but rather first a girl with blue hair. '_Aquan…_' he thought thinking back to the memory spheres. A boy that looked like a familiar Nobody, '_Ventus…_' he thought thinking back within his memories, and finally someone with brown hair, '_Xehanort…_' he thought, and finally his mind made since of what was going on. '_She's like our reflection in a sort… she's our gaze into the past…_' this was Roxas' input. Sora nodded for a moment and Amaterasu turned her head slightly to look at Sora.

"We should leave now," Amaterasu said putting on a fake smile. The brunette blinked slightly feeling a bit confused at her whole demeanor at all of this. Naminé looked back at Amaterasu and she nodded slightly. The Dark Princess closed her eyes for a moment searching for Lightning's aura. She found the presence and at that moment she outstretched her hand and a dark portal appeared out of nowhere, stationing itself in the middle of the room. "We're going to have to transport them one by one…" the girl said as she started by taking the maiden in the yellow dress towards the portal first. Naminé and Sora looked at one another and then back to Amaterasu as she walked through the portal with Belle.

"It's her own way of saying sorry, I guess…" Naminé said softly as Sora and she lifted Alice and slowly paced themselves through the dark portal.

**With Ignis **

The Dark Master was perched far above the ground on a tall column of earth. The winds were relatively slow, and they slowly carried the scent of blood and Heartless across the land. "Once he sets foot on this land, I'll take _everything_ from him," the old man said softly to himself, and he gave a crooked smile. '_There's no need for him, he'll just abuse hi power like all the others,_' he thought back to what he had told the Dark Princess. '_There's no need for her as well she has done her job, and out lived her usefulness,_' he thought hoping that Riku would soon outburst like he did, and he was right on the money at this point.

'_WHAT?!_' it was accompanied by the growls of a beast by the name of Vieh of course. '_Why kill her? She's helped you; she deserves to live at least!_' Vieh's voice resonated with Riku's into a combination of beastly bellows and yells. Ignis sighed for a moment, he never expected for the beast to get involved now. '_We have a point you know, just let her live for a bit longer, could you do us that simple favor?_' the beast asked, and Riku could be heard growling somewhere in the distance of his mind.

'_Just shut up, both of you,_' Xehanort said growling for a moment, '_she's already done her part she's used up._' Riku growled for a moment and cursed back at him. Ignis tuned them out quickly and placed a gloved hand over his face covering his eyes for a moment. He heard nothing and saw nothing, it was perfect for him right now.

"All that's left to do is just wait, she'll either lead them here, or she'll tell them where I am, whichever one it is it's still her part. She'll be done soon and she'll be done with her part, and then…" he laughed to himself, "it'll be all mine. They're all foolish, every single one of them."

Riku sighed for a moment finally sat up against the wall of the 'dark' room and Vieh placed his head on the Keyblade wielders lap, closing his eyes and giving a heavy sigh. "Why'd you agree with me?" Riku asked placing his hand on the head of the beast, and creature in reply just growled for a moment. "You like her too, don't you?" he asked smirking. "I guess you are part of me," that made Vieh give out a raspy sounding laugh, and Riku shook his head for a moment. "I'm gonna get out of here, you'll see, once Xehanort gets ready to leave…"

_"How do you know he's going to leave?"_ Vieh asked his yellow eyes staring up at Riku. Riku shrugged for a moment and thought of something quick.

"It's like that in every book or show, they always send out their minions first and then they fight once their minion gets destroyed." He sounded confident for once, like this could actually make sense, and Vieh almost found himself agreeing with what the Keyblade wielder believed.

_"In case you haven't noticed we're minions too…"_ Vieh said snickering at the whole thing, _"we're going to die at your friends' hands, just grand…"_ he said sarcastically. Riku shifted uncomfortably in his position and Vieh got up in an annoyed manner. _"You know you're really strange, I just hope Amaterasu gets to dispose of us…"_ Riku laughed nervously at that comment. _"Don't lie, you're thinking about it… And whole mess of other things, you know you might want to keep a lid on what you think, some things are…" _

"I know…" Riku said placing his hand firmly on the beast's head, and Vieh pulled away slightly. "Dying at the hands of the one you love…" he said softly shaking his head for a moment. "_Yeah_ that's _really_ how I want to die…" he said contemptuously and Vieh rolled his eyes at the comment of the silver hared teen. "I'll do the best I can to get out of here…"

_"You'd better find a way lover boy, or else we're all going to die in here… I haven't even gotten a chance to celebrate my first birthday…"_ Vieh felt a bit remorseful for some reason, _"Tragic, tragic day, what a shame to be put to waste, to die in a forsaken place." _

"Shut up, Vieh…" Riku said turning his head away, there was finally silence, and he had time to formulate a plan, but he didn't know if it would work. "What was it that you said about a bright light?" he asked thinking back to a previous comment the silver furred beast had mentioned.

_"Oh! Now you want to hear about what I have to say…"_ Vieh said bearing his teeth to the boy, but the darkness prevented any detection of it at all.

Ignis was glad he tuned out the conversation for once, their babble seemed meaningless at times, but they were the only beings he could use to fight against Sora and the others for now. That would soon change, and he was looking forward to it.

**Versus and Lightning **

"So then, Heartless, what are you doing here?" Versus asked leaning against a fallen column from a nearby building. Cloud and Leon's group had advanced forward into taking out more Heartless that had gone further into the capital. These two and several other soldiers chose to say behind to rest for a bit.

"She sent me to go and see what was happening here," Lightning answered truthfully and sighed for a moment crossing her arms over her chest. "I didn't expect to find you like that…" she said eyeing the bandages that were wrapped around a flesh wound. "What happened to your arm?" she asked, her blue eyes looked up him for a moment.

"A Wyvern," he said laughing for a moment. "I didn't see it coming from the air and tackled me down to the ground. Its talons were getting to close to my face so the only thing I could do was use my arms. It knocked me out though before I got a chance to get rid of it." Versus said noticing that the Heartless snickered for a moment. "How is she?" he asked referring to the young girl.

"She's with _friends_," the Heartless said not really knowing what call the three people that kept Amaterasu company. "I'm sorry about what happened to the capital and the other countries…" she said trying to be as sincere as she could, but she could only feel like that around Amaterasu. Versus accepted the strained tone of the apology and looked up at the sky. Grey clouds were moving around, the wind was pushing them along, making them traverse towards the area of the desert. '_He's out there…_' Lightning watched the clouds for a moment and felt a shiver go down her spine, '_he's out there… waiting…_'

Versus pushed himself off of the column and took his sword back into position since it was on the dirt ground. He walked off in the direction that Leon and the others traversed along, and he looked back at Lightning, "Are you going to come, or not?" he asked the female Heartless, she in reply pulled out her weapon transforming it into a somewhat strange looking Gunblade. "I'll take that as a 'yes' then," Versus said waiting for her to walk over.

Lightning slung the weapon over her shoulder, sensing the presence of Heartless fall for a moment. '_They're getting tired,_' she thought, referring to Leon and Cloud's group. '_They are human after all, and they know their limitations._' She walked alongside Versus and took notice on the look he placed on his face. He didn't seem all that focused for some reason. '_His capital is in ruins, and soon there's going to be a massive fight between the Dark Master and Sora…_' the Heartless thought deducing as to why he seemed so distant from reality.

**Cloud and the others **

Tifa felt her fist knocking down a Heartless and she looked back at Zack and Cloud, they seemed to be doing all right. "Above you!" someone called out and Tifa looked and jumped back. The sound of metal _clanking_ together caught her attention noticing the large body before her. '_Shit…_' she thought dodging the powerful Fire spell. The Defender, as it was called, successfully evaded Tifa's attack by using its shield to push her back. At the same time it tried to bite off her leg, but she was saved for now. Zack came in from behind and sliced the Heartless down the middle.

More Heartless appeared when their comrades fell, and it included winged Heartless as well. Cloud and Aerith looked up at the sky noticing the evil creatures cover the area, but one thing they didn't expect so see, or rather what Cloud didn't expect to see, was Sephiroth taking to the skies to wipe out the Heartless that flew around. The was a loud _boom_ coming from the gummi ship overhead, and the whole gang noticed that smoke was starting to emit from the place where the ship had taken damage.

"Sephiroth!" Zack yelled quickly glancing at his friend.

Sephiroth nodded knowing exactly what spiky hared man was asking of him and rushed towards the gummi ship. The others continued on holding back the Heartless from advancing forward. Vincent pulled the trigger on 'Cerberus' and watched as Heartless fell backwards. He glanced up at the gummi ship, and several names ran through his head, '_Reeve… Cid and Shera, Shelke… and the two children._' Zack brought his Buster Sword down on the remaining Heartless that were around him and he moved his sword to the side, cutting more of the enemies down to size. Cloud parried with several of the Heartless, blocking attacks and slicing them down when they were caught off guard. Spells of every element were being said, coming from Rinoa and Aerith as they attacked the Heartless relentlessly with their elemental attacks.

Leon and Reno took turns bashing the Heartless, moving as quickly as they could to try and end it all quickly. Electricity befell the Heartless from Reno's Electro-rod, and they twitched slightly on the ground before disappearing back into a puff of black smoke. He smirked and went back to the other Heartless at hand. Several 'Soldier' Heartless moved through the air with spinning kicks, and Reno ducked before one of them got a clear shot of his face. Leon gripped his Gunblade and successfully managed to knock out several of the dark creatures, and once more of them showed up was time for some Fire spells.

Rude and Nanaki worked off one another quite effectively. Rude was able to grab two Heartless by the head and bash them in together, and they fell to the ground. Nanaki used Sled Fang against the Heartless that didn't fall from Rude's combination of kicks and punches. A shuriken narrowly missed the man with the black sunglasses by about an inch or so, and Yuffie apologized whole-heartedly. Yomigami sighed and threw both of his chakram at the remaining Heartless around him as the weapons spun around wildly with the element of thunder encompassing them.

The gummi ship was starting to descend as Sephiroth finally made his way through the sky, and he noticed that the engine had been damaged and the side of it. Flames were sprouting from the engine and the silver hared man moved about as quickly as he could. He made it inside and looked around, yellow eyed creatures had taken residence within the flying vehicle and the members within the ship were fighting them off as best as they could. The humming of the EM sabers was heard as Shelke zipped past Sephiroth.

"Reeve, Shera, and the kids made it out through the escape pod…!" Cid said slamming the Heartless down with his spear. Shelke provided support and slashed wildly at several 'Shadow' Heartless that moved about. The gummi ship jerked towards the right, and Sephiroth managed to catch himself from falling. Shelke was thrown back and Heartless went in for the kill, but she pulled out a strange looking orb, and a shield formed around her. "Shit…" Cid cursed noticing that the decrease in altitude was starting to pick up. "We've got to abandon ship!" he said picking up Shelke and Sephiroth was more than happy to hear those words.

'_Zack would've killed me if anything happened to these people… I still don't see why he cares about them that much, he doesn't even talk to them most of the time…_' the one winged angel thought taking the two away from the wreckage.

"What the hell took you two?!" Reno yelled out, swinging his weapon at nearby Heartless. He looked at Lightning and Versus for a moment as they moved in quickly, making mince meat out of the Heartless ahead.

Zack and Cloud were back to back now staring at the Heartless around them. Zack chuckled for a moment, "Just like old time, eh Cloud?"

Cloud gripped his weapon tightly noticing the agitated look within the Heartless in front of him and he felt a smirk creep up on him. "You think it'll be a bit more tough if a couple more of them show up?"

"I don't know…" Zack said looking in back of him for a moment. "Ready?" he asked, and Cloud nodded. The two of them pushed off at superhuman speed, and both of their swords were held high ready to strike down. The Heartless moved forward and Cloud took on his side swinging the huge blade over to his right, knocking a couple of them down for the count. Zack brought his blade down, and a gust knocked several Heartless in its wake.

**Amaterasu and the others **

The girl sighed and noticed that Kairi was the last one to be carried over. "You can take her Sora," she said noticing that Sora had already gotten Kairi in his arms. Amaterasu laughed for a bit and they all started to walk towards the portal.

_Leaving so soon?_

Naminé and the others topped quickly and looked around the room. '_That voice…_' Amaterasu thought pulling out 'Way to Night'. Naminé pulled out her Keyblade and tried to search for the location of the voice, but she didn't find anything. Sora looked back and pulled out his weapon. "No, Sora, just go…" Naminé said trying to get him through the portal. "Amaterasu and I can take care of ourselves, they're just trying to slow you down."

"Naminé…" Sora said softly and looked at Amaterasu. "If she gets hurt…" Amaterasu cut him off quickly.

"Just move!" she said sending a chill down his spine, and he quickly hurried along the portal. Once he was through the portal she closed it and looked around. "All right then, show yourself!"

_With pleasure… _

'_It's that soldier…_' Amaterasu thought remembering him from a previous battle. Naminé gripped her weapon tightly watching the soldier as it moved forward. "What do you want?" Naminé asked still gripping on the handle of the Keyblade.

The soldier dressed in black moved forward and Naminé dodged an attack from the soldiers weapon of choice, this here being a Keyblade. Amaterasu ran forward locking her weapon with the soldier's. She was sent back with a more powerful version of the attack 'Dark Aura'. Naminé rushed over to the fallen girl, but she shook her head, not wanting assistance from the female Nobody. "He's the only thing that matters right now…" the girl said getting up slightly. The soldier didn't wait any time soon, and Naminé pushed Amaterasu quickly, away from harm.

Amaterasu rolled a little bit, and caught herself quickly just in time. She stood up now and ran towards the dark solider. Naminé was in his grasp, and he used her as a shield of some sort. The blonde Nobody struggled trying to free herself from the soldier. The soldier turned his gaze towards Amaterasu as she growled for a moment bringing her Keyblade down to her side. "Let her go…" she said gripping the handle of her weapon.

"'Fraid I can't…" the soldier replied with a sort of taunting tone. Amaterasu ran forward and used her speed to an advantage, before letting her blade connect with Naminé's body she spun around to the right side, and with her free hand used her version of 'Dark Firaga', moving the soldier by an inch. It was enough to get Naminé free, and the Nobody moved quickly towards Amaterasu's side. The soldier growled for a moment and advanced with a quick burst of speed.

Amaterasu and Naminé jumped back as the soldier brought his weapon high into the air. Naminé went forward and quickly brought her weapon to strike. Amaterasu followed as her shadow, in a since, and when Naminé was blocked the girl jump over the Nobody and brought her weapon down, breaking the faceguard in half. The Heartless soldier moved back and threw his weapon towards Amaterasu, and the blond Nobody used the spell 'Reflect' to bounce the Keyblade back. The Heartless growled for a moment and moved back as Amaterasu moved forward. Naminé stood near to support her through any means necessary.

The soldier moved quickly, bring his hand forward. Naminé knew he was going to try that other attack, and quickly with her Keyblade threw it forward. The spell that the Heartless used connected with Naminé's weapon, and sent it flying back to its owner. Amaterasu moved quickly to the left, and threw her weapon as fast as she could. The solider leapt back bending his body a bit, so that the weapon would miss him completely. The girl growl for a moment watching her Keyblade skid across the floor, and soldier stood on the keychain of her weapon. The girl called back her Keyblade, and it disappeared in a small flicker of light, and appeared back in the girl's left hand.

The soldier moved once again going for Naminé this time, and he brought his weapon to the side. '_Reflect!_' Naminé thought, quickly hearing the Keyblade hit against the barrier. Amaterasu and Naminé were feeling out of breath for a moment, they couldn't keep it up much longer. '_Damn it…_' Amaterasu thought watching the soldier move towards her. Naminé's eyes caught something that zipped through the air; it didn't come from either one of them. The soldier looked in the distance and noticed a familiar figure wearing a black coat. Amaterasu turned around quickly and felt her eyes widen for a moment. '_It's him…_' she thought thinking back to the royal mouse. '_It's really him!_'

King Mickey discarded his robe and summoning his Keyblade back he dashed forward ready to fight against the soldier. "Hey you two!" it was Goofy's voice, accompanied by Donald shouting a frenzy off magic spells. He was putting his mage skills to the test as the soldier had a harder time fighting off against the King and spells at the same time. Goofy threw his shield knocking the soldier around a bit. "We'll take it from here!" Donald said using Blizzaga on the soldier. Amaterasu and Naminé looked back at the King and he nodded for a moment. A dark portal appeared underneath the girl and the Nobody.

**Sora and the others **

Various soldiers from Versus personal squad were transporting the Princesses to a safer area. '_This place took a lot of damage…_' Sora thought walking alongside some of the soldier that offered their help. He was alone now since Versus and the others had left to fight off the other Heartless that moved up ahead. He looked off in the distance and noticed that smoke was billowing from somewhere. '_I hope the others are all right…_' he thought and looked back at what was once the entrance to the capital. It seemed hard to believe that Heartless had taken this area by surprise.

"Aaahhh…!" he heard voices from overhead. Sora looked at a portal that formed overhead and noticed two people fall from the sky. "Ugh…" a blond girl said picking herself up slightly. The dark skinned girl stayed on the ground, lightly sighing for a moment. She didn't bother to pick herself up; she seemed tired, and let her aching muscles rest for a moment. "You okay, Ammi?" Naminé asked wandering over to the girl, and she gave a light nod.

"King Mickey was there…" Amaterasu said turning over on her back now. She stared up at the sky and looked at the grey clouds, along with them blacks ones seemed to form in the distance. "He got us out of there…"

"I was the one who sent him…" Sora said looking down at Amaterasu for a moment. She looked up at the blue eyes and sighed in relief. "I felt bad about leaving you two there…" he said as Amaterasu sat up for a moment, and shook her head.

"Why are you so nice…?" Amaterasu asked sighing heavily. "Come Sora get mad at me once in a while…" Sora rolled his eyes and fell back on the ground. Amaterasu sat next to him and so did Naminé. "I mean _come on_ you're way too nice for your own good."

"That's what _I_ tell him…" Roxas said walking out from one of the nearby areas.

"Roxas!" Naminé said hugging the blond male Nobody with all her might. Roxas froze for a moment watching Amaterasu and Sora laugh. He felt a blush creep up on him and stuck his tongue out at the other two teens. "How's your shoulder?" Naminé asked quietly.

"It's better…" Roxas said giving her a small smile once he felt his face go back to normal. He sighed and looked at several silhouettes in the distance. "Look!" Roxas pointed towards the figures that were walking down the hill. Sora and Amaterasu looked in the direction, quickly noticing the figures advance. '_Yomigami…_' Amaterasu thought running forward, feeling a smile creep up on her.

Sora and the others stayed back watching Amaterasu greet the other people. She stopped for a moment noticing several other people she knew too. '_Wow… Even Zack's here!_' it was like Christmas for her, she hadn't seen these familiar faces in so long. "Ammi…" she felt some give her a strong hug, and she hugged the person back with full force. "I haven't seen you in so long…" he said softly, she could tell he was also tired.

She felt something hit the back of her head. "Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?" he asked looking down at his sister. "You don't even call or anything…" he said hugging her once again. Amaterasu patted her big brother's back and said sorry. "At least you're all right…" Yomigami said finally letting her go.

"Hey…" Amaterasu looked up and noticed a familiar Heartless. She laughed for a bit and ran up to her. Lightning hugged her for a moment and she noticed Versus chuckle for a a second or so.

"Hey, Versus!" Amaterasu said bowing her head for a moment. "Sorry about what happened to the capital…" she said rubbing the back of her head. '_This is Ignis' doing that's for sure…'_ she thought laughing nervously.

"Where's the king?" Leon asked looking at the others. They didn't know where he was.

"Oh…" Amaterasu cleared her throat for a moment to butt in. "He's off fighting soldier dressed in black… He'll be back soon…" she said sounding hopeful. At that moment Sora and the others ran towards them, and the Keyblade's 'chosen one' sighed in relief knowing that his other friends were doing all right. Amaterasu took the chance to slip away from the others and found herself walking through the ruins.

"Hey…" she looked back and noticed Lightning, her brother, and Versus walk after her. "Don't tell me you're leaving so soon?" Versus said catching up to her. "It's not really fitting for the **_Atrum Procer_** to do that."

"I feel…" she shook her head and stopped walking for a bit, "strange… I feel weird around them…"

Yomigami sighed for a moment, as if almost reading his younger sister's mind. "I don't think they're mad at you… You didn't know about what the sphere could do, so it's not really your fault…" he said patting his sister's head. "Anyway they do miss you, so come on." He said tugging at her arm. "Zack's been missing you like crazy… Reno I don't think he remembers you exactly but…" his voice trailed away.

Amaterasu looked back at Lightning and Versus, she mouthed out the phrase 'help me' but the Heartless shook her head. "Have fun catching up." She said noticing Amaterasu pout for a moment. "Besides we're going to wait for King Mickey!" Versus said. With that Amaterasu was led back to the others, and the first person to greet her was the Great Ninja Yuffie.

"Ammi!" she said cried happily tackling the girl to the ground with a vicious bear hug. Amaterasu twitched slightly and sighed for a moment. "I missed you so much! You had your brother worried sick!" Amaterasu winced slightly.

"What the heck was that for?" she asked looking up at Yuffie. "Is this wack Ammi day, because if it is I don't remember…" Yuffie laughed at Amaterasu and helped her up.

Yuffie and Yomigami took Amaterasu under their wing, so to speak, and the first person to remember her right a way was Aerith. She seemed relieved a bit knowing that their second 'oldest' friend was doing all right. Amaterasu hugged the flower maiden for a moment feeling some tension break off from her frame. "How have you been?" the flower maiden asked looking at the dark hared girl for a moment.

"Okay… I guess…" she said laughing nervously. "How about Cloud?"

"You can him ask yourself…" she said point to the blond spiky hared man. He raised a hand slightly to acknowledge her presence, and she waved back at him.

"Ammi!" someone said playfully in back of her. She flinched feeling a pair of strong arms pick her up like that.

"Zack… Put her down…" Aerith said. She landed with a _thud_ and she moaned feeling her bottom connect with the ground like that.

"Just like old time, eh Ammi?" Zack said pulling her back up. "Sorry about that." He said meaning it sincerely. "How have you been? Man, these years have been really good for you. Look at you, you haven't aged one bit!" he said, and Amaterasu laughed nervously.

"You… um…" she tilted her head for a bit. "Got taller?" she didn't really know what to say, but hug the man one more. "I missed you guys so much!" she said. Still her heart didn't beat as it was meant to do. '_He's around here somewhere…_' she thought sighing heavily for a moment.

"Hey…" Leon called them over. '_They're going to hold a meeting…_' Amaterasu thought following the others as well. Naminé patted a spot next to her for Amaterasu to take. Almost everyone was gathered around, except for Versus and Lightning. "All right first of all, it's nice seeing you again, Amaterasu…" Leon said, and she felt slightly less uncomfortable now. She smiled slightly and waved to the others.

"Damn Heartless…" Cid said cursing rather loudly. It was something they all got use to, even his wife Shera, though she wanted him to stop cursing. "They took out my gummi ship like it was nothing…" Amaterasu looked down for a moment. '_At least everyone is safe…_' she thought sighing for a moment.

"All right… Ammi…" Rinoa didn't really know how to put it as gently as possible but this was a grave situation. "Since you're the Dark Princess…"

"Uh-huh…" Amaterasu nodded slightly. '_If she's going where I think she's going… Then…_'

"You know where he is then…" Yuffie finished the sentence as best as she could. "Please Amaterasu you have to help us, look what he's done to this world already. Look what he's done to Ri-" Yomigami cut her off, noticing the pained looked forming on her face. "Please…" she asked again.

Sora and Roxas looked back at one another and then to Amaterasu. She didn't say anything for a while. Naminé patted her back for a bit and sighed slightly. "You can tell me… and I'll tell them for you," the blonde female Nobody said hoping to get her to talk again. Amaterasu shook her head for a moment, and thought again about what to say. '_Like Sora said I should help and fix it…_' she thought finally getting ready to answer.

"I want to help…" Amaterasu said putting on a smile. "So I'll go with you guys." She said looking back at Roxas, Naminé, and Sora. "No offence but you guys are going to be in the way." She said looking back at the ones who didn't wield Keyblades.

**Versus and Lightning **

Versus watched for a moment as a portal appeared a couple of feet in front of them. Lightning noticed it as well and looked at the emerging figures. '_They don't smell like a Heartless…_' she thought relaxing for a bit. A white duck was the first to step out of the portal, and then someone tripped on something. '_Goofy…_' they both thought sighing heavily for a moment. "Hey you two!" Goofy said waving to the two individuals. "Whatcha guys doing here?" he asked chuckling for a moment.

"Waiting for you guys to show up." Versus said laughing for a bit. "Is he on his way?" he asked and both of his royal staff members nodded.

King Mickey stepped out, and the Heartless and the heir bowed their heads, showing their respect towards the royal authority figure. He looked worn out, and a bit disappointed at the same time. Donald and Goofy just looked a bit tired, but that was all that the Heartless could sense about those two. "He got away…" King Mickey said sighing in disapproval over the whole event.

"Don't worry your Majesty, we'll get him next time," Donald said trying to cheer up their friend. Goofy nodded in agreement and the King gave a tired smile in response.

"What about…?" his royal highness looked at Versus for a moment and the heir nodded, knowing exactly who the royal mouse was asking about.

"They're fine; Leon's holding a meeting with them right now." Lightning said looking at group. They were stationed far away from where King Mickey was at. "Do you want me to go and get her?" she asked looking back at King Mickey.

Mickey thought about it for a moment, and he instructed the Heartless that is was better if they waited. Lightning nodded and said that she would wait for them till the meeting was over. In that term of agreement she bowed again and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a faint trace of anemone and the scent of Heartless. Versus sighed for a moment looking back up at where Lightning had gone to. '_This is really it…_' the heir thought feeling a smile creep up on him, '_he's really going to go and fight the Dark Master, just with a pair of Nobodies and an ageless princess. At least Lightning won't fight with them, that's a relief. I don't think Amaterasu would want her Heartless friend getting injured like that._'

Goofy and Donald looked at the expression Versus had on his face for a moment. It looked like he was relieved about something. '_Wonder what he's thinking about…_' Goofy thought, he had never seen the heir this relaxed, and it was a rather strange sight to see the heir smiling like that now.

"Hey I know that look now!" Goofy said as his light-bulb turned on. "You like that there Lightnin' girl, don't cha?" he asked giving off his trademark 'a-hyuck'.

Versus broke out of his daze and looked back at the soldier. '_What?!_' his mind was racing. '_Me…? Like a Heartless?_' Versus shook his head for a moment. "No, Goofy, you got it all wrong… We're just acquaintances."

"That how it starts out…" Donald said taunting the telekinetic heir. Versus felt his mouth open slightly, he had nothing to comment on for the moment.

'_Do you hear what they're saying?_' Versus' voice probed into the Heartless' head.

'_Yes… Well I mean a Heartless like myself can't really love someone, now can they?_' Versus sighed hearing Lightning's words echo through his mind.

'_Right…_' with that the last word Versus said terminated the mind link.

Lightning sighed for a moment and watched as how Leon pulled out a map from the area. Everyone gathered around it, and apparently Amaterasu was supposed to show them where exactly the Dark Master was hiding. The girl sat there staring at the map, but nothing was coming to her.

'_It's just a feeling… I can't really point it out on a map. It comes from my heart… And the heart it isn't mapped…_' she thought sighing heavily. "I can't… Not on a map… I have to actually go and look around. My heart…" she said timidly pointing to her heart. "It's sort of like a, um…" she tried her best to try and describe the process, "like a bloodhound." She wasn't sure if that was the best example to use, but that's all she could think of. "I'll know once I'm out there, I'll be able to sense him, that you can be sure of," Amaterasu said looking back at the two Nobodies and Sora.

"Guess I've got nothing to say then…" Leon said rubbing the back of his head. Everyone seemed really exhausted from the previous fights they were in. With that the meeting was closed and everyone was free to look around the capital, what was left of it anyway.

Yomigami, Zack, Reno, and Rude looked at Amaterasu for a moment and she smiled nervously at them. Yomigami motioned his little sister to come forward and she nodded, waving slightly to Reno. He responded with a simple 'yo' and Amaterasu sighed for a moment. "You remember who I am?" she asked crossing her arms.

"Nope…" Reno said grinning slightly. "Silly Ammi…" the red head said affectionately. "You haven't aged one bit… Man, I should've taken the job back during the start of the project." Rude sighed for a moment and said his 'hello' to Amaterasu and she did the same.

"Trust me your skinny body wouldn't do the specimen any good." Amaterasu said laughing at the red head.

"And I suppose _you _would know?" Reno asked shaking his head. It was like the old times, but now age became a factor among the friends. "Anyway, you remember Sephiroth?"

"A bit…" she said honestly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Amaterasu…" Lightning called out softly. She excused herself from her brother and the two men and walked towards the female Heartless. "King Mickey is asking for your presence as well as Naminé, Roxas and Sora." She said pointing out the needed individuals.

Yomigami sighed for a moment and noticed that Yuffie was walking about, talking with Rinoa and Aerith. "Ah… Oh yeah," Yomigami looked back at Zack and Reno. "That girl," he pointed to the blue eyed Heartless. "She's one of _them_," he said noticing the confused look on the spiky hared man, and the one with marking under his eyes.

**R i k u **

"Where to even begin…?" I asked myself standing up and trying to look around. Again I'm in the same darn 'dark' room. I can't really see anything, except for Vieh's eyes but that's about it. He says that he can see in the dark, and believe if or not for some reason I do not doubt it at the moment.

_"We're just going to have to sit here and wait for them to come…"_ Vieh said brushing up against me with his fur. He sighed for a moment and looked around for something. _"I told you we should've gone out when that stupid Heartless was called out, but did you listen, no! You never do…"_ Vieh didn't sound too pleased with the whole outcome. _"Now we're stuck relying on your girlfriend, and they Keyblade wielder. We're doomed I tell ye, doomed!"_

I sighed for a moment wandering around the area a bit for probably the tenth time. Still nothing, it was pitch black as far as the eye could see, and well that's what I saw right now. Vieh was off yapping away, I mean he's the only person, well he's not even really a person, he's a beast, to be honest he's just a thought I made up into my head.

_"How do you say that word?" I tugged on my mother's blouse. This weird looking animal zipped past my foot, and Mom didn't see it. "Vi… Vieh?" I asked her trying to describe the white thing that was bumping into the kitchen. "It's small and white…" I said pointing to the corner of the kitchen. There by a stool was this small white animal. _

_"You mean vermin…" my mother said as softly as she could, trying not to scare the animal away, "that's not a Vieh, unless it looks like a Vieh to you." She said giving me a warm smile. _

_I shook my head and my mother scared the vermin away making this loud noise on the table. I jumped up slightly and looked at my mom and smiled. "You scared Vieh away." I said imitating how the rat scurried out of the kitchen. _

A lot of issues were coming and going through our household, and I think that's where my real definition of 'Vieh' came into contact. I had a bad nightmare, and the only thing I could remember was this strange silver colored beast. That's where Vieh was born from, the one who stands right next to me. Vieh's eyes stared back at me for a moment and he sighed once again. _"I hate waiting…"_ he said softly.

"Same here…" I said falling back on the ground. To my surprise no memories plagued my thoughts now. Ignis was really focused this time, and for a bit it did worry me. "You guys better kick his old sorry ass…" I said. I really wish I could be right there alongside them, to fight this old creep, but I'm not. "Hey… You think Amaterasu will be all right without us if anything should happen to us?"

_"I don't know…"_ Vieh said thinking about if for a moment. _"I'm just saying what you want to hear, so…"_ he laughed for a moment. _"But to be honest, you know she'd miss you a lot. Skimming through all your memories…"_

"Wait, _all_ of them?" I asked quickly looking in the direction of the noise. I could hear the silver furred beast emit a low laughing sound with a variation of growls and raspy breathing.

**A m a t e r a s u **

Everyone was all present and accounted for, the King, Roxas and Naminé, Sora and Versus, not to mention myself. '_Oh man… Why do I feel so edgy?_' I asked myself. I'm frightened, I never would've thought that I'd actually be scared of fighting, but I mean this is the Dark Master we're talking about after all, not just some Heartless. '_My darkness hasn't come back either…_' that worried me. I had gotten use to the little voice inside my head, but now everything was just silent, and as much as I enjoyed the peace and quiet I was afraid of it as well.

Being around King Mickey right now, as beyond just plain out nervousness, heck being around Santa Claus would've made me feel better. I owe so much to King Mickey and I've let him down, and considering how old he really is, and how _old_ I truly am that's a lot of time, not to mention a lot of broken promises on my part, but I suppose I can't really get to say sorry as many times as I wanted to. I only remember squeaking out a small apology when I saw him a couple of minutes ago. I can feel my whole body shaking, it wasn't because of the cold, but it was because I was just flat out scared, nervous, be it whatever one may call it, I just didn't feel comfortable.

King Mickey cleared his throat and I tore my eyes away from my shoes, looking up at the royal mouse. He seemed… No rather he _was _tired; there were scratches by the sides of his cheeks, and dirt covering his clothing now. '_The soldier must have gotten a couple of whacks in him…_' I thought sadly, looking back down again. "Ignis Xehanort is out there," he said softly, and we all leaned in to hear him better. "No doubt he is expecting the four of you," he said looking at all of us.

"You're not going to fight?" Sora asked the question for all of us. King Mickey looked down for a moment and gave all of us a sad smile.

"I'm getting old Sora," he said trying to laugh it off. We all looked at one another, feeling regret, or something like that.

"Don't worry though, I have faith in all of you, so don't fret. Each one of you is capable of standing up against him; I know you'll be the ones to restore the light back to all the worlds." He has so much faith in all of us, I just want to cry. He's a very benevolent king, and I felt envious for a moment. '_Why couldn't our home have someone as kind as King Mickey?_' I thought back to what our world once stood for, it was for peace and prosperity, but when darkness started to creep into everyone's minds, well it just went downhill from there.

"I won't…" I started to speak softly. "I won't promise you anything, because I can't really keep one…" I said laughing at myself for a moment. "But… I'll _do_ something for you. I'll help fight against Ignis, if it's the only thing I can do for you, King Mickey." I said, meaning every word of it.

"You guys are going to need something that can get you across the desert at a pretty fast rate then…" Versus said looking back at all of us. "You know Elusion-Ilusion is pretty well known for it's advancement in technology and magic…" we all nodded. "I've got a couple of spare bikes. They were salvaged from the wreckage during the attack."

Naminé looked at Roxas, then to Sora, and then back to me, and we just sort of laughed apprehensively. I've never ridden a motorcycle before, and from what I've seen it's probably going to be a bit difficult to master. Then again this is a very advanced area so maybe it wouldn't be that hard.

Lightning reappeared next to Versus and tapped his shoulder whispering something into his ear. We looked at Lightning and she looked back at Versus, he still had more to say. "And armor, you guys are going to need armor." He said getting up for a moment. "He's going to attack you with everything he's got, and he'll probably break you all in the process." He said, and we cringed at the mental image that probably ran through our heads.

"You know how _nice_ that really sounds…" Roxas said scratching the back of his head.

"Anyway, here…" as Versus said this several soldiers brought over some armor. Two were for the female soldiers, and the other two were for the males. "Think of it as a gift," he said looking back at all of us.

Naminé and I looked at the armor that was before us, and it seemed to be fairly new. "Wow…" she said softly picking up the faceguard. "You know… I think I've seen this somewhere before…" she said examining the top part of the faceguard. It had strange ear parts pointing back. I looked back at mines noticing it was in the same shape.

**Current Scene **

Sora and Roxas picked up their faceguards and examined it for a moment. "This looks just like the one Ven wore…" Sora said looking back at Amaterasu and Naminé. "How did you…?" he looked back at Versus, but even he didn't have a good answer.

"King Mickey found them a while back, and he asked me if I could get some people to restore the parts." Versus said looking back at all of them.

"Hey Sora, it's a got a little cape too," Roxas said picking up the torso part of the armor. He extended the cape a bit and Sora grinned for a moment. Sora paused for a moment and heard a little growl escape from his stomach. Versus and Amaterasu looked at the Keyblade wielders stomach and then back to the embarrassed look on the boy's face. "But we can't fight on an empty stomach…" Naminé said smiling at Sora and to Roxas.

Amaterasu nodded and looked back at Versus.

"You wouldn't happen to have any food, would you, Versus sir?" she asked timidly, hearing her stomach growl as well. '_Man I haven't ate since breakfast… I'm gonna collapse one day,_' she thought shaking her head.

With that everyone found themselves sitting on the ground and enjoying the food that was left, mostly rations given out to soldiers when they went on missions and other things like that. Though it wasn't the best tasting food in the world, they all ate it anyway; there was just something about being around the presence of other people that made the food almost tasty. '_It's our last meal together as a group…_' Sora thought biting into a piece of bread, '_still it just doesn't feel the same without Riku… or Kairi…_' he felt a small frown tug at the corner of his lip. '_It'll be all over soon, and it'll be like old times, you'll see…_' he said looking up at the sky for a moment.

"Hey what's your name?" a girl asked Amaterasu. The dark hared teen paused for a moment before drinking the liquid from the cup, and looked at the girl. She smiled timidly and stuck out her hand for the smaller girl.

"My name's Amaterasu," she said softly, and the girl shook her hand.

"I'm Marlene, are you a friend of Roxas?" Marlene asked.

'_Am I?_' she thought to herself. '_I guess I am now… Friends gather to eat…_' Amaterasu placed a small smile. "Yeah Marlene, I'm a friend of Roxas and the others."

"Oh, that's good!" she said happily and nudged at the boy next to her. "Go on…" she said watching the young boy stick out his hand towards Amaterasu.

"I'm Denzel," he said feeling the soft handshake she gave him.

**After eating **

Yomigami sighed for a moment and looked back at Leon and Cloud as he had finally reached his decision about something. "I'm going to stay with you guys." He said simply, and Rinoa and Aerith sighed for a moment in relief.

"Thank you so much Yomigami," Rinoa said laughing a bit. "We're going to need all the help we can get, to have Radiant Garden back to its proper title." Yomigami nodded and Leon sighed for a moment.

"You can help Shelke and Vincent with the computer," he said knowing Yomigami's involvement with the supercomputer left by Ansem. "They can really use your help for that."

"Just like old time, eh, Yomi?" Reno said messing up the person's hair. "What about you sister though?" he asked. Yomigami looked at Amaterasu, noticing that she was sitting next to the children, just talking.

"I don't think she'll come with us…" Yomigami said sounding a bit hurt by that. "She'll probably want to go with Sora and the others." He said.

"She's growing up… figuratively of course," Aerith said leaning against Cloud for a moment. Cloud didn't move and looked at the flower maiden for a couple of seconds. All of things were running through the minds of the personnel involved with the restoration of Radiant Garden.

Tifa had fallen asleep beside Zack, so he tried his best not to move around so that she wouldn't wake up. "I hear you guys are getting married in about a couple of months…" Aerith whispered giggling a bit.

"What?!" Leon and Cloud couldn't help but ask as Zack flinched slightly in his seat.

Zack laughed nervously looking back at his other friends. "Cat's out of the bag now…" he said softly and nodded. "Yeah, the wedding's in Midgar." He said thinking for a moment. "Invitations were being made… But I think it's going to get delayed _even LONGER_ because of the Heartless attack." He said placing his arm around Tifa as she slept. "She wanted to keep it a surprise, but I guess she just couldn't wait." Zack said rubbing the back of his head. "Are you two coming?" this was directed towards Vincent and Shelke.

"To the wedding of Zack Fair and the future Mrs. Fair…?" Shelke paused for a moment and looked back at Vincent. "I will go." She said looking back at Zack. Vincent thought about it for a moment, and if he didn't go Reeve and Yuffie would be nagging him to no end about all the good food that they ate. Shelke would be slightly upset with him, but that would be it, still that fact bugged him ever more.

"I'll go then…" he said in his own manner, and the girls looked pleased.

"Yomi…" Yuffie said looking at him. "You going?" she asked hoping that he would say 'yes'.

"Yeah…" he said messing up the ninja's hair.

**With Sora and the others **

"That's so cool!" Denzel said looking at the figures before them. The battle armor seemed to shine brilliantly, showing off the wonderful craftsmanship from the past. Amaterasu and Naminé smiled patting the boy on the head. "You guys even got a cape!" Marlene said pointing to the fabric that stuck out from Roxas' battle armor.

"So you guys ready now?" Lightning asked, looking back at the four teenagers. Sora took off his faceguard and nodded slightly. "All right then. Do you remember what Versus said about the bikes?"

"Other than the fact that they don't have wheels…" Sora said trying to remember everything that the heir had told them about the hovering vehicles. "I'm kidding... I think we remember." He said laughing a bit.

Versus showed them out of the capital, and the others waved goodbye at them. Yuffie was trying hard not to cry, seeing as how Yomigami would see his little sister again. Reno sighed for a moment waving goodbye to Sora and the gang.

"They'll be all right…" Rude said as if already knowing what Reno was thinking about. Cloud and Aerith walked with them to the entrance of the capital, and so did Rinoa and Leon.

"We'll see you guys someday, all right?" the four of them nodded to Rinoa and Leon.

"You'll be able to see Radiant Garden from the sky one day," Aerith said smiling back at the four armored figures.

"Yomigami says his goodbyes…" Cloud said pointing his thumb back. Amaterasu felt her heart sink a little. "He says…"

"I know…" she said frowning for a moment underneath the faceguard. "He wants to go back home, so I don't blame him for staying with you guys. Anyway…" she said taking off her face guard. "Thank you, so much you guys." She said placing a sincere smile. She hugged the flower maiden and Rinoa, and waved goodbye to Leon and Cloud. "Take care you guys." Amaterasu said placing the faceguard back on.

Lightning waited for Amaterasu to get near the bike, and lightly tapped her on the shoulder. "Thank you, Amaterasu…" she said softly, and felt a smile creep up on her. "But I'm afraid I won't be going with you…"

Amaterasu flinched and looked up at the Heartless. 'But… But why?" she asked feeling hurt. "I thought…"

"I can't… Or rather I won't. This is a fight to get back what you've all lost. I haven't lost anything," she said looking back at Versus for a moment. "Besides, I've found a place…" she said hoping that the girl would understand her decisions. "I want to thank you… for trying to get my heart back…" the Heartless said hugging the girl once more. "Next time you come back here, we'll see each other again, all right?" Amaterasu nodded and felt tears run down the side of her face. "I think I've found my heart…" the Heartless said. "You can guess who it is…" Amaterasu laughed. "Take care, my friend…" with that the Heartless felt something beat within her chest. '_One step at a time…_' she thought hugging her 'client' one last time.

The two Nobodies and Sora looked back as Amaterasu made her way towards them with the bike. It seemed to mimic a certain bike that one person had. Aerith and Leon said it looked like Cloud's bike Fenrir only without wheels. The front of the bike curved down, to use as a battering ram as well. It hovered a couple of inches off the ground and with a final goodbye each figure had a trail of dust following them.

**With Ignis Xehanort the Dark Master of the Keyblades **

The dust that was starting to pick up below him, it was very strange to see the debris move like that so quickly with almost no wind. '_They're coming…_' the Dark Master thought smiling sinisterly. He jumped down from his highest perch, and hovered about a couple of mere inches above the ground, and slowly his boots touch the land of the desert he was within. He outstretched his hand, and from his white gloves a strange aura of purple and black speed from his fingertips. '_A little welcoming party,_' he thought watching as how the aura started to slowly descend as it was making its way to the moving dirt.

Sora looked back at Roxas, and Naminé, Amaterasu slowed the bike down and looked around. She closed her eyes letting her heart emit a strange glow, but nothing strummed her heart. '_Not yet…_' she thought and opened her eyes, the girl shook her head. "This is bull…!" Roxas said angrily and pounded his fist in his open palm, "we have to investigate this whole damn desert?!" he said violently taking off his faceguard.

"Calm down…" Naminé said softly removing her faceguard, and placed it on her lap. "I think it's the heat that has us like this…" she said looking back at Amaterasu and Sora, and they both heaved a heavy sigh. "Come on, let's keep going…" she said placing her faceguard back, and Roxas did the same grumbling. Amaterasu and Sora revved up the bike and let the engine roar as it zipped down the desert. These bikes boasted the powerful magic and technology that became the pride of the capital. Wind was starting to pick, and little pieces of rocks and dirt kicked up from the hovering vehicle.

Sora and Roxas slowed their bikes down to a steady cruising style and they pointed to something over in the far right. Amaterasu took off her faceguard, and squinted for a moment, the wind made it difficult to see, but still she could sense something. "It smells like Heartless…" Roxas said breathing out quickly. Sora and Amaterasu growled for a moment looking at the black fuzzy area grow more and more. "At least we know where he is, just over the Heartless!" Roxas said and let his impulse led the way, his bike moved so quickly through the open space.

"Roxas!" the others called back at him and their bikes moved with equal speed.

Amaterasu brought out her weapon of choice 'Way to Night' and brought it at her side. She still wasn't use to fighting like this, and the armor made it a bit more complicated. Sora and Roxas seemed use to it since they both could wield Keyblades with two hands very easily, they treated the bike as if it were another weapon. Naminé decided that she would be better off just casting spells rather than using the bike and her Keyblade. Something shrilled in the air, and the four armored individuals looked up to see several Heartless fly through the air.

"Whoa…" it was something that escaped everyone lips, the dragon screeched again, and they moved their vehicle as fast as it possibly could. '_I hope it doesn't hit the bikes…_' Roxas thought crouching as close as possible to the bike.

The flying beasts roared, and dove straight down towards the path of the moving figures. "Move, move, move!" Sora yelled out watching the other three spilt up. Sora went in to drive straight into the path of the flying creature. The creatures spilt themselves into one group of four. The Heartless dragon roared and twisted through the air showing off its magnificent black scales. The gust pushed Sora's bike a bit, veering it off from a straight path, and he narrowly avoided with a slab of earth that jutted out. Roxas looked back at Sora's bike, and quickly moved to the right in a 90 degree turn, barely avoiding the dragon it his path. "What the hell?!" he called back looking at Sora. The brunette shrugged and moved back into the path of the dragons.

Amaterasu sighed and looked in back of her, '_Where'd it go?_' she looked up to noticed nothing above her. '_Oh man…_' she thought turning her head to the left. She slammed the brake clutch, letting the poor old gear creaked. Within second the dragon continued on flying straight, but twisted around to fly head on towards the **_Atrum Procer_**. She growled and looked back at Naminé seeing her zip past Roxas and Sora.

Naminé let her body close the gap between the open space and the bike, hugging the vehicle to gather more speed. '_Aw man I hate this!_' she thought letting the curved edge of the bike knock Heartless left and right from her space. "Thundaga!" she shouted hearing the physical form of electricity slam the grounds, touching the defenseless Heartless. The dragon roared again hovering over the fallen Heartless. Something moved quickly through the air, and the beast screeched in pain. Sora was coming up from behind, using his Keyblade as a boomerang. The other dragon that chased Sora was coming with equal speed, and Sora got an idea in that head of his. "Naminé, charge at me!" Sora said watching the girl turn the bike. "What?!" she cried out in disbelief. "Are you insane?!" she moved forward anway. '_I hope you know what you're doing…_' she thought letting the bike almost cross paths with the Keyblade wielder.

The other two dragons were more preoccupied on their prey to notice the cries coming from their comrades. Roxas braced himself as he saw the dragon closing up on him. Amaterasu moved to the side quickly, withdrawing her Keyblade. '_We've got to find a way to bring them to the ground…_' she thought looking in back of her, their wings didn't seem well protected, '_that's it!_' she thought smiling like crazy for a moment. "Their wings!" she said looking back at Roxas, he was trying his best not to get the bike chew up.

Sora and the female Nobody brought their dragons down to the ground with ease. Naminé and the Keyblade's 'chosen one' heard the girl's advice and aimed their magical attacks at the vulnerable sections. The one beast cried out in pain feeling the Keyblade connect with the fragile appendages of flight. Naminé used magic on her enemy, freezing a section of the wing with ease. They looked back to see Roxas and Amaterasu fighting the dragon in their own ways.

Amaterasu used a powerful 'Reflect' spell to push the flames away from the beast, and maneuvered herself as quickly as possible to a large column of earth. '_Please let it hit…_' she prayed hearing the wings flap behind her with great power. The Heartless on the ground moved quickly helping the fallen Heartless dragons. The column of earth was getting closer and closer as the **_Atrum Procer_** moved with each second.

Roxas on the other hand decided the best thing to do was to hitch a ride on the beast. '_Here goes nothing… If I fall I won't lose my heart… but…_' he shook his head not caring about the consequences of the matter at hand. He put thrust into the engine and turned the advanced vehicle sharply, kicking up dust in its wake. The dragon roared bravely veering down the path the Nobody treaded on. The dragon lowered its neck, and Roxas could see the glowing yellow eyes on the head. '_Give me strength…_' he thought moving forward with the vehicle. The dragon opened its mouth welcoming the Nobody with an array of orange and red flames. '_Reflect!_' he thought, letting a barrier come up between himself and the dragon. With that Roxas hitched a ride on the dragon, once he was within reach of the neck.

The winged Heartless chasing Amaterasu nicked the slab of earth, and the beast let one wing hit the ground as it created a path, splitting the desert ground a bit. "Blizzaga!" someone cried out in back of her noticing that it was Naminé's voice that summoned the spell. The Heartless roared feeling the added weight to its wing, and with a terrible shake it feel to the ground. "Go, now!" Naminé instructed to Amaterasu. She brought out her Keyblade once again, and drove the machine towards the wings, ramming it in the process. '_Here goes nothing…_' Amaterasu thought letting the blade connect with the frozen wing.

Sora came from Naminé's shadow to help with the dragon extermination. With that it was three dragons down and only one to go. "What's he doing?!" Amaterasu cried out, hearing an earsplitting cry come from the air. Roxas gripped on to the horns that were placed carefully on the back of the creature. He held on as tightly as he could, and attack the horns on its head when it hovered once in a while. Heartless were starting to advance as it seemed that the dragons were just there to waste time.

"We can't let them get to capital!" Sora said putting his Keyblade to the side, and moving with his bike. "Come on Ammi!" he yelled over the roar of the engine. Naminé stayed back aiming her Keyblade to the wings of the Heartless in the air. '_Please hit…_' she prayed to herself as shots of ice form from her Keyblade and launched like missiles, ice crystals sparkled as they broke off from the spell, as it went through the air. '_Bull's-eye!_' she thought happily, but noticed that the creature was descending to fast for her liking. "Uh-oh…" she said speedily, turning the bike to move away.

Sora and Amaterasu caught up with the moving Heartless. The girl decided it was better if she fought on foot, since she wasn't use to the bike. Sora didn't say anything and rammed his bike through a group of Heartless. Amaterasu threw her weapon, watching it hit designated enemies left and right. With the weapon finally in hand she moved forward, the sound of armor ramming against Heartless, and the metallic step she took could be heard faintly as Sora zipped past her on the bike. He brought Ultima weapon once more, and swung his blade to the side, with the advantage of the full force of speed. Amaterasu growled again looking at the Heartless that surrounded her. '_Where are you…?_' she thought to herself hearing her mind sound so quiet, '_what gives?_' she asked, blocking an attack from a monkey looking Heartless. Claws tried to pierce through her armor, and only succeeded in making small dents, all the armor was starting to wear slightly. '_For once, there's no voice…_' she thought hearing the sound of Sora cry out as a Heartless jumped on him.

Roxas landed beside the dragon, metal hitting earth in a very squeamish way, it made Naminé cringe slightly, and the dragon disappeared in a puff of smoke. '_That's the last of them…_' she thought sighing happily for a moment. "Don't you ever do anything like that again!" Naminé said harshly and helped Roxas up. "Where's your bike?" she asked looking around for the hovering craft. He spotted it near a slab of earth. "I hope to the gods that it isn't broken…" she said watching him run like mad to get the bike back. Within moments he appeared by the female Nobodies side with the bike in fairly good condition. The two of them rammed their machines through a group of Heartless that were about to jump Amaterasu.

"What's wrong with the bike?" Roxas asked using his right hand to push some Heartless away. Amaterasu jumped backwards, and placed 'Gravity' on several enemies to keep them from moving. Naminé took the chance and slashed at the paralyzed Heartless and looked back at Amaterasu through the tinted visor of the faceguard.

"Nothing…" Amaterasu replied summoning a Thunder bolt to hit the ground, impacting on the body of a Heartless. It twitched feeling the electricity run down its body, and twitched violently out on the floor, and the Dark Princess ended its pain quickly. More Heartless were starting to gather, and both Naminé and Roxas cussed under their breath. Amaterasu moved the side quickly, feeling something hit her armor, and she swung her Keyblade to the side, instinctively.

"Where the hell are they coming from again?!" Roxas asked violently letting Oblivion and Oathkeeper relentlessly attack their enemies. He stabbed on Heartless in the chest and flung it back towards another group of Heartless. Sora jumped off the bike, and used a burst of speed to send a shockwave through the ground. An aura of grey jutted out from the Keyblade and knocked several dark creatures on the floor. His blade whipped around the bodies of the Heartless, leaving some without arms, and others without legs. Naminé and the other girl focused more on dealing with spells at the time being since there were too many to fight against for close quarter combat. Roxas covered the two females, dual wielding the two weapons with a frenzy of energy, spinning himself along with the Keyblades like a top, just hitting enemies left and right.

Sora used another technique by the name of 'sonic Blade' with Ultima weapon ready to pierce through the flesh of those that it came in contact with. The Keyblade wielder zipped through the area letting his anger come out in a collection of flying Heartless and yells, as he steadied himself when the weapon connected with bodies of the Heartless. Roxas and Amaterasu created a sort of cooperative technique. "Ready, set, go!" she yelled quickly, tossing Roxas into the air, and he descended down to the ground rapidly, spinning the weapons with no mercy whatsoever.

One by one the Heartless were falling victim to the weapons of those wielded by only the ones with strong hearts. Naminé used her Keyblade to slice through the remaining Heartless around her. Summoning spells was taking on toll on her stamina, and her energy was running out quickly. Sora was there to back her up as he placed 'Reflect' on the female Nobody when she stopped fighting for a brief period of time. The Heartless were starting to retreat once the number was down to roughly three hundred. Amaterasu and Roxas threw their weapons at several Heartless, and took the time to notice the heart that was released, and watched the precious item float into the air, and disappear. '_To gather in an endless void to create Kingdom Hearts…_' the Dark Princess thought looking back Roxas, and they both nodded looking back at Naminé and Sora.

They all went back on to their designated mode of transportation, and rode down the grounds, chasing after the retreating Heartless. A couple of Heartless stayed back to attack the intruding group of riders. Roxas and Sora were both taken off their rides in a combination of speed and logic as several winged Heartless dropped their comrades like bombs. The Nobody and his 'other' grunted hearing the sound of metal clash with the ground. Dirt was covering the once proud armor, and it was a shame to see it get to waste like that. The other two females, stopped and watched as a sum of about fifty Heartless paused to fight them off. It was suicide for them, as Naminé and Amaterasu brought their weapons and ripped through the group. Hearts went back into the air, and so it was more hearts that gather within that void.

Yellow eyes stared at the Keyblades in fear, but still they found the _courage_ to fight back with all their might. A Wyvern, of a magnificent burgundy color, slammed its body down, forcing Amaterasu on the ground; its talons wanted to desperately cease the attack of the Dark Princess. Even Heartless fought for their own kind be it an order, they had some mind of their own, still it wasn't enough for the Wyvern as it began to move towards the faceguard. Naminé moved quickly noticing the armor that cursed out loud on the ground, and she tackled the dark creature coated in that shade of burgundy, and sliced it rapidly before it could get up. They were all getting tried and hot from the heat, and the battle. The dragons wasted their time so quickly, and their energy as well. The Heartless that stayed behind fueled their rage; they wanted this all end soon.

Roxas and Sora stood back to back, and both jumped into the air to attack the fly Heartless that knocked them off their bikes. Sora moved gracefully through the air, swinging the lengthy blade at the nearby Heartless, and they disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Roxas moved with dangerous speed and zipped past his enemies like lightning, showing no style at like, he wanted to get rid of the Heartless at whatever cost he could pay. Oblivion struck on enemy in the head, and Oathkeeper stabbed one through the chest, he twirled his blades and watched as more Heartless advanced on him. Sora spun around thrusting his weapon up to strike at the creature that hovered above. The 'Air Soldier' was nicked and it descended, Ultima weapon moved again turning downward and the soldier was gone for good.

Naminé spun around to the right avoiding the oncoming attack from the ground. Another dark creature moved about the field charging straight for the female. Without a moment to spare it knocked her on the ground and she tumbled backwards. Yellow eyes watched as the armor failed to move for several seconds, they took no chances and jumped into the air, claws ready to lash out. Naminé watched the scene unfold from her tinted visor and brought her Keyblade up to protect herself. Something broke the cycle that was going to happen, a weapon moved about through the air, and she watched the hearts that were released. "You all right?" the female asked her. "Thanks…" Naminé said softly noticing the figure above her, "I owe you one Ammi." She said picking herself up.

The two girls turned around hearing the soft purring noise coming from two of the vehicles; it was time to move again. "You know… I' really starting to get just a _little_ pissed…" Roxas said using his fingers to measure his attitude. "And this heat is _killing_ me!" he said, about ready to take off his faceguard once more. Naminé and Amaterasu sighed heavily, feeling the hot air from the mouth hit against the inside of the faceguard. They hopped onto their vehicles and followed a small trail of black and yellow leading to a somewhat desolate crossroad of some sort. '_He's here…_' Amaterasu thought slamming the brake clutch, making a sharp turn. This was the end of the road for them, psychically, since a cliff stood in their way for the hovering crafts.

_"So… they can't fly?" Sora asked examining the bike for a moment. _

_"Exactly, we haven't gotten that far yet," Versus said feeling a bit embarrassed for some reason. "They can hover though, they have enough power to do that, but not fly like an aircraft, and it's a vehicle not a plane. Be careful with it." He said watching Sora press a button on the side of the bike. Within a couple of moments the hovering vehicle pushed 0 to 85 leaving the boy covered in a cloud of exhaust fumes. "The thrust doesn't last that long, it only goes for about 30 seconds." _

_"That's still a lot though…" Naminé said watching the bike finally come to a halt._

"Now I really wish they had gotten far with the bike…" Sora said getting off the hovering bike. "Well then," he looked back at the others and laughed nervously. "This is it." He said looking at a tall column of earth that seemed to be in the far off corner of the crossroads. They paused for a moment feeling something like a pressure settle within their 'hearts' so to speak, except the two Nobodies who had the strange sensation of having butterflies flutter around in their stomachs.

"We should rest for a couple of minutes…" Naminé said looking back at the others, and they nodded.

"That's a good plan for right now," Amaterasu said sitting on the ground, hearing the metal clank with each movement she made. Her faceguard rested on her lap and she breathed in the air. The smell of Heartless made her cringe a bit, '_some things I'll never get use to…_' she thought looking back at the unguarded faces of her 'friends'.

"Man…" Roxas said taking the time to relax. "So many Heartless in one day, this is torture, not to mention those dragons." He fell backwards and he made a large _thud_ sound as the armor weighed him down even more. He stared up at the sky and noticed that the clouds were almost as black as night. "I really hope it doesn't rain…"

"I like the rain…" it came from the two females, and they laughed nervously. "But I mean if it does rain, it'll be harder for us to fight," Amaterasu said thinking of wet metal and damp earth. "True…" Naminé said putting her fingertips together for a moment. They all sighed for a moment and tried to relax preparing themselves for whatever came their way.

"Let's get going…" Sora said taking his faceguard under his arm, and he stood up staring back at. The other three followed behind and the wind began to pick up again. The capes strapped onto their backs moved with the wind, whipping behind them like crazy. Even nature felt the force of darkness touch its land and it trembled in fear. '_Such power that can even scare the land…_' it was something running through their heads and they slowly descended from the cliff, there was a very narrow path for them, but pieces of the land were unstable. "AHHHH!" the sound of metal grinding against rock ceased within a couple of seconds as Roxas grabbed Sora quickly. "Help me up!" Roxas said straining under the weight of his 'other' as gravity started to pull him down. The two teenage girls helped as quickly as they could and with that they were soon on their way again.

Before long, as they reflected on within in their minds, the narrow path came to an end as they finally made it to the strange looking crossroad. As far as the eye could see there were odd looking weapons created from metal corroding away from the harsh desert winds and the rain fall it received once in a while. They seemed to from the pathway to the middle of the thing. They all ran towards the middle and looked around the four separate pathways. '_I think I've been here before…_' Sora and Roxas both thought under their own private mind link, it was a feeling of nostalgia for the two of them, and they didn't understand why. '_But I've never been to Sunset Horizon…_' Sora thought shaking his head slightly. '_Same here…_' Roxas thought answering his part of the whole idea on it.

_Welcome, those who wield the blade of keys…_

"That voice!" Naminé and Amaterasu said quickly. '_It's that soldier…_' Naminé thought summoning her Keyblade once more, and so did the other female. Roxas and Sora took no time to spare to have their weapon within their grasp.

**Vieh and Riku **

_"I told you it would work!"_ the beast said happily prancing about for a moment, his plan finally worked. Riku looked around; this place looked a bit strange still. "I thought you said that we could get out…"

_"Yeah… Away from that place, but not out of his body yet…"_ Vieh said shaking his body for a moment. He looked back at Riku and sighed heavily giving off a raspy tone that only a beast could make. _"One step at a time, Riku. One step at a time…"_ the beast said staring back at Riku with its yellow eyes.

Riku paused for a moment and sighed. "He's letting his guard down…" the silver hared teen said looking back at his new companion. "Can you feel it?"

_"Pressure is dropping pretty slowly, you think he's scared?"_ the beast asked looking quizzically up at the ceiling. Cracks were starting to form around the room at a very slow rate.

"I think it's their light…" Riku said looking up at the cracks for a moment. "…their hearts… They're trying to break through to me…" he said feeling hope spread throughout him. "I'll be strong for them, and break out of here!" he said grinning.

_"Glad to see you in your peppy mood!"_ Vieh said laughing for a moment. _"Now off we go, to see the show!"_

**Xehanort the Heartless **

Sora jumped to the side avoiding a blizzard spell. Naminé spun around slightly barely having time to dodge one spell herself. Roxas and Amaterasu ran forward with their Keyblades ringing out to slay the soldier. Xehanort hover moved with fast reflexes, it was hard to tell at some point if he even moved at all. The Heartless soldier still didn't draw out his Keyblade, it wasn't time for him to fight head on like that yet, his master didn't give him the signal for anything of the sort. Sora moved forward, Ultima weapon moving through the air with ease and the soldier spun around quickly and with his finger tips sent a ball of fire, hitting the 'chosen one' and knocking him on his side. "Sora!" the others cried out and he stood up feeling a bit shaken up. He used his Keyblade as an apparatus to support himself up. The others did the same; it was hard keeping up with the soldier, especially in this heat.

The soldier disappeared from sight, and the armor ones looked around. He was long gone from their current location. Amaterasu panted for a moment looking around the pathways, '_the energy is too big to pinpoint, it's all over the place…_' she thought shaking her head in disappointment. In the distance a weary figure walked down the path with dark clouds looming over to almost no end in sight. The soldier turned their heads in that direction, and picked up their weapon once more. Winds kicked up more dust, only making the silhouette of the figure known. '_Ignis…_' Sora thought growling for a moment and he placed one foot forward, but Amaterasu held him back. "Don't…" she whispered watching the figure stop for a moment, "that's exactly what he wants…"

Ignis chuckled for a moment watching a figure stop in their tracks. '_It's been so long since then… Hasn't Ventus?_' he thought losing himself in a faint memory, but it seemed unimportant now. Sora broke free from Amaterasu's grip and he ran forward. As Ignis continued walking, seemingly unfazed by the boy's outburst he called out the Xehanort the Heartless, watching a light haze appear around him, creating a very structured and solid body of a black armor soldier. Sora ran forward with Ultima ready at had, he jumped forward ready to attack now. The Dark Master had other plans as he lift one palm up and the ground listened to its call and rose forward, Sora collided with half of his torso hitting the raising slab of earth.

Roxas and the others felt the ground around them start to shake and they took the chance to jump off. Sora panted heavily getting up and noticing that the others ran past him now. Another part of the ground rose up hosting the Heartless and the Dark Master up into the sky. Sora ran towards the ascending earth, and stopped quickly as he stared up in shock watching a strange form of electricity come down on him, rendering him paralyzed for a moment. The black armored soldier came down from his post and descended at a fast rate toward Sora now. '_I'm not giving up…_' he thought putting Ultima up as his guard.

Ignis sighed for a moment staring out at the weapons that seemed to stand erect as they were carefully placed within the ground. '_Each none marks a fallen wielder… Sadly Ultima weapon will have to be one of them…_' he thought lifting up the fallen Keyblades with the flick of a wrist. Sora jumped back and noticed several objects swirling around one another in the distance as he turned around. He failed to notice the fact that the keychain to his Keyblade was gone now, as was for everyone else now. They were fighting against the true master this time, and their hearts were nothing compared to his strength.

"Where's Sora?!" Amaterasu asked as they came into an area where rocky hills and mesas were scattered about. "He…" Naminé didn't have enough time to answer hearing the sound of metal scrap against one another. They all ran for it avoiding the artificially created twister, Keyblades created the deadly arsenal of wind. Roxas ran forward and heard the sound of a blizzard spell. Naminé ran to the side to avoid it, but the twister cut her off sending her to stumble back, but she caught her self, and spun around quickly dodging the attack from the Heartless as he wielded his red and black weapon. Xehanort quickly jumped back into the air and stood on top of one of the moving Keyblades.

Amaterasu growled for a moment and both she and Naminé sent a 'Thundaga' spell within the path of the twister. Ignis moved quickly to the side avoiding the attack of Sora's Keyblade. Sora rolled onto the floor feeling something of great power hit his side again. He groaned for a moment and stood up carefully, panting for a moment. "You're fighting under my rules now, _Ventus_…" the old man said noticing the tight grip the boy held on the weapon. "Don't call me that!" Sora said swinging his weapon. "My name is Sora!" still it fell on deaf ears as Ignis spent another ball of fire towards the wielder once more.

The others looked up and noticed a figure falling down at a fast rate. Ignis now was standing another summit looking down at them all. "Sora!" the two Nobodies and the girl called out watching Sora's armored body collide with the jagged rocks from the cliff. He stuck his weapon into the earth, and hoped that his fall would decrease. '_No keychain?!_' he thought taking a good look at the weapon. '_No! This can't be…_' he thought looking back up for a moment. Naminé jumped up hoping to try and catch Sora as the earth was starting to break apart from up above him. The keyblades came back with full force knocking Naminé back down to the ground; Sora threw himself off and landed right next to her. She panted for a moment and looked back at the twister, it was moving again. Her face guard was thrown a couple of feet away from her body; it was a very hard fall. "I'm fine…" she said looking back at Sora and the others.

Roxas stayed behind as Amaterasu and Sora ran to another cliff, and again they launched another thunder based attack, seeing as how Xehanort was still ridding on it. The girl paused for a moment as the twister came within inches of colliding with her, and instead Sora was sent into the deadly assault, his body moving through the air as the weapons hit him dead on. "Reflectga!" Naminé cried out watching the spell rise up through the twister and it connected with Sora. The Keyblades stopped permanently as a tower was formed as each corroded weapon stacked up against the spell. Sora's body was suspended in midair by the spell, but the last weapon that smacked into the barrier caused it to break and explode sending the boy and his weapon high into the air, and skidding around the platform of earth on which Ignis stood.

"Damn it…" Sora thought clenching his grip on the hilt of the weapon. '_With no keychain it's just a regular blade…_' he thought getting up and panting. He glared at Ignis and growled for a moment. He ran up again with his Keyblade to the side, and Ignis laughed at the attempt. There the Dark Master blocked the parry of the attacks with his Keyblade, keychain and all, making it seem like child's play. He pushed back Sora and sent a Blizzaga spell; the young Keyblade wielder could hear the sound of ice forming over his left arm. He looked up and noticed someone in the distance. '_Roxas, no!_' he tried desperately to move his arm watching his Nobody tried to attack Ignis from behind. Oblivion and Oathkeeper were running with electricity, but Ignis quickly handled it as he moved quickly to the side, catching the Nobody in midair. Roxas moved his body to try and break free from the grasp on his head. Ignis sighed for a moment and placed a heavier grip, crushing the faceguard with ease, and half of the visor was broken off. "Stop…" Sora said getting back up again, but Xehanort's Heartless got in the way, sending him down to the ground.

Amaterasu and Naminé looked up at the event unfold, "Roxas… ROXAS!" Naminé cried out watching the Nobody look at her. She could sense what he was feeling and for a moment it pained her. "No…" she whispered watching his eyes stare at her with a message 'I'm sorry,' was all that could be said from his gaze. The Nobody stopped moving feeling his body go numb, the armor turned black preventing any movement as Ignis boasted off his strength, and soon he mimicked the same thing that once had happened to Naminé. Amaterasu watched in horror as the Nobody's body came colliding with the jagged edges of the cliff. Pieces of Oblivion and Oathkeeper broke off rapidly as the both hit several sharp edges of earth, and Naminé ran forward with all her might.

Ignis withdrew his Keyblade and placed his hand over his heart for a moment. A ball of swirling dark colors hovered over his hand and with a slim smile he threw the ball of energy into the heavens. At that same point in time Naminé slide beneath the trajectory of Roxas' path and caught him quickly. "I'm so sorry, Roxas…" she said softly noticing his eyes moving slowly. She looked up and noticed that the clouds were parting as something was lighting up the sky. Amaterasu found Sora and sighed heavily, and noticed the strange aura in the sky. '_Kingdom Hearts…_' she thought feeling her eyes grow wide. Sora growled for a moment and took off his faceguard, revealing the tint of yellow within his eyes. The Dark Master was there anymore, and Sora yelled out in anguish cursing loudly.

Roxas and Naminé moved to safe place and they seemed worn out, their muscles ached very badly. "You two go on ahead…" Naminé said doing her best to try and defrost the armor. "I'll only be in your way." She said softly noticing the look in Sora's eyes. "Be careful Sora… don't let it take a hold of you…"

"But… how can we fight with regular weapons?" he asked angrily showing the empty loop where the keychain once stood. The Dark Princess looked back at hers and noticed that the chain was gone as well. "The heart… Our heart is the only weapon we need." The girl said softly, "he hasn't taken that away from us yet." She said staring up at the pale blue heart shaped moon. "He's in there now…" she said softly looking back at Sora and he nodded. "Then that's where we'll go…" Sora said tightening the grip on the weapon. In the distance a strange door appeared, and Amaterasu felt a smile tug at her mouth.

**Within Kingdom Hearts **

Sora and Amaterasu looked around the area trying to figure out where to go from there, but they were drawing up blanks. '_Just great…_' Amaterasu thought and looked at her body for a moment. "Hey the armor is gone!" she cried out in alarm and stuck out her leg and her other arm, "weird…" she thought looking back at Sora is his regular black attire. "Thank the gods…" Sora said stretching for a moment, the strange color in his eyes still didn't go away. "I was getting cramped in there." He said trying to laugh for a moment, but he had no happiness in him whatsoever.

The two of the walked around trying to figure out where Ignis was at, but it hard sensing his presence within this world, '_I don't remember Kingdom Hearts being this bright…_' Sora thought shielding his eyes for a moment as they walked forward. Amaterasu sighed for a moment and looked back at Sora. '_He'll go berserk soon…_' she thought feeling worried for a bit, '_I just hope he doesn't hurt himself…_'

"Hey what's that?" Sora asked pointing to a strange portal; it was swirling with blue and black energy. The two of them moved cautiously towards the portal, and Sora used his weapon to poke the portal, and the weapon went straight through the swirl of black and blue.

"You think it's safe?" Amaterasu asked looking back at the young Keyblade wielder. He shrugged and took Ultima out of the portal.

_"Hey!"_

The two individuals looked around in confusion upon hearing the voice; it just popped out of nowhere. They looked at each dumbstruck and stopped moving for a bit. "Who's there?!" Sora called out to the blank walls of the entrance. The voice chuckled for a moment and sighed heavily. "Hey come this is no time for games!" the brunette called out again losing his patience.

_"You don't remember me?"_ the voice asked sounding a bit hurt.

"No…" Sora said looking back at Amaterasu with a 'what the fudge is going on?' sort of gaze. The girl shrugged back and looked around the room once again, still she found nothing.

_"I told you he would forget you!"_ another voice came into the room, laughing in a raspy tone.

_"Oh shut up Vieh!"_ the human sounding voice replied. _"Amaterasu are you there?"_

"How… How do you know my name?" she asked feeling something hit her heart for a moment. '_It's beating…_' she thought happily. '_Wait, no… It's not because of him… It can't be… it didn't beat when he was possessed by Ignis, why should it beat now?_'

_"Even the girl forgot about you!"_ the beast sounding voice said, its laughter filled the whole room.

_"Come on you guys!"_ the human sounding voice pleaded. _"Is this anyway to treat a guy?" _

Sora and Amaterasu felt their hearts jump for joy hearing that phrase. "Riku!" they yelled happily jumping up in the air for a moment. "Riku?!" they looked around again trying see if there was a voice for the body.

_"Sorry guys… This is as close as it's going to get for now…"_ Riku said sighing. _"It's nice hearing you guys again though, how have you been?" _

"Well I mean… Ok I guess…" Sora said laughing for a moment. "We're on our way to kick Ignis' ass…" he said meaning every word of it.

"Hey who's the other voice?" Amaterasu couldn't help but ask noticing the raspy laughter in the background.

_"You've met him before Ammi…"_ Riku sounded glad to hear her voice.

_"Remember that silver furred creature?"_ it came from Vieh.

"Oh!" Amaterasu started to laugh for a moment. "You…? Hey you… Wait Riku were you within that thing when…? When he you know killed the witch?"

_"Don't remind me…"_ Riku said in disgust.

_"Anyway enough talking, get in the portal!"_ Vieh said barking madly. Riku tried to calm him down.

"How do you know it isn't a trap?" Sora asked Vieh.

_'He's a part of me Sora. I don't think he'd want to hurt you…"_ Riku said laughing nervously. _"I'll explain that part later just go in the portal, we've been waiting for you guys to show up, it's annoying hold this dang thing open…" _

They both said their goodbyes to Riku and Vieh and went into the portal. "WOAH!" Sora fell forward but luckily the girl was able to catch him before he fell into the endless void. "What the…?" he looked around the area and noticed that there was nothing around, no buildings, no ground, no ship, nothing at all. "An endless void…" Amaterasu said softly watching the boy sit up on a ledge next to her.

_Permissum vestri pectus pectoris partum a semita _

Sora felt something within his heart, and he carefully placed his feet down on what he felt was invisible ground. He took another step forward and heard something like a chime ring out within the void of the area. A bright light filled the area, ad he covered his face, and so did the girl. A stained glass platform appeared underneath the boy's feet. "Wow…" he felt speechless for a moment and smiled looking back at Amaterasu as she now stepped down to the stained glass floor. "Hey what did the voice say?" he asked looking back at the Dark Princess.

"What voice?" she asked scratching the side of her head. "I didn't hear anything…" Amaterasu said looking at him strangely for a moment. "What did it say?" she asked looking back at him.

"It was in another language… I thought you heard it," he said softly to himself, but nonetheless he repeated what the voice said, sort of slurring the words slightly.

"Let your heart create a path…" she said staring at the stained glass before their feet. "Well Sora your heart did this," the Dark Princess said feeling happy for a moment. "I'm impressed; you've come a long way, Keyblade Master."

"My heart isn't strong enough," he said referring to the keychain crisis. "I mean…" Amaterasu sighed for a moment and made a face. "What?" he asked quickly.

"Don't talk like that!" she said sounding very stern. "Only losers talk like that…" she said trying her best to smile. '_Very well put, Amaterasu,_' a voice said whispering in her mind. '_You're back!_' she responded to her inner darkness. '_Make a choice now, its either light, or darkness…_' she laughed for a moment. '_I'll give you my answer once this is done…_' she responded and looked in the distance. A white door appeared before them.

"Kingdom Hearts!" they both said noticing a figure emerge from the dark portal that appeared below. Ignis smiled for a moment and brought out his Keyblade. '_I'm not going to lose to him…_' Sora though bring out Ultima weapon, he didn't care now if it didn't have a keychain, he wanted to fight now. '_I want to protect my friends… I want to save Kairi and Riku,_' he thought. Ignis watched Sora for a moment, noticing the yellow glow in his eyes. Amaterasu gripped the handle of the blade 'Way to Night' and growled for a moment. '_I don't want to lose my new friends… or Riku… I want the worlds to be in peace again…_'

_Permissum sicco lux lucis rector vestri pectus pectoris _

The voice was loud and clear, it was coming from the hearts of all the others that lived in different worlds. In this place where all hearts gather, they offered aid to those who sought it for now. '_Let out light guide your hearts…_' the girl thought feeling something warm her heart. Sora felt the same sensation, '_this is the light from our friends, the hope that they have in us…_' he thought running forward. Ignis was pushed back a bit, barely having enough time to dodge the attack. Amaterasu came from behind swung her blade to the left hearing it connect with the Dark Master's weapon. He threw her back, and she fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Sora lost his mind at that point, and his Heartless self came out. Amaterasu picked herself up and watched as Anti-form circled around the Dark Master with ease.

The girl ran forward aiding the hero of light and blocked a ball of fire escaping the man's fingertips. Sora jumped into the air and curled himself into a ball, dark energy swirled around him, lashing out at the nearby individuals. Amaterasu jumped back and watched as Ignis took the hits, '_it still won't do him any good…_' she thought watching Ignis dodge more blows with ease. '_We need our true Keyblades…_' Amaterasu thought as she ran to aid Sora. Ignis grabbed the Heartless form of Sora, and flung him to the ground, hearing the stained glass beneath the boy crack. "Sora!" Amaterasu called out quickly watching the body slowly rise.

_Operor non contremisco quis vos operor ignoro viator of atrum quod vir of lux lucis _

"We're not afraid…" they both said softly feeling a warm light encompass them. "We will fight till the end!" the two said pulling out their weapon. This time their key chains reappeared, restoring the weapons to their former glory. Sora grinned and moved forward and Amaterasu followed closely behind as Ignis spun around, blocking the array of attacks. The **_Atrum Procer_** jumped forward and brought her weapon down, but Ignis had other plans, he used his Keyblade to hit her forcefully in the ribs, and with lightning quick speed he brought his Keyblade down on her leg as the girl descended to the ground. "Sora…" she called out watching him take her Keyblade in the air. "This ends now, Ignis!" the hero of light cried out tossing the old man into the air, and slamming his weapon forcefully on the back of the Dark Master.

Amaterasu stood up limping slightly watching the fight from a distance. "Good job Sora…" she thought panting for a moment, feeling the pain in her leg. She looked around and noticed that yellow eyes were starting to appear from all over the place. Ignis was knocked out, and Sora was close to the count when something came out from Ignis' frame.

_"Sora… Amaterasu…" _

"Riku…" they both responded sadly looking at the static appearance of their friend before them.

_"I'm using as much energy as I can to keep him from moving right now, Vieh's helping, but I mean… Just hurry up!"_ the figure disappeared, and Sora and Amaterasu stood side by side now.

"You ready?" he asked placing his hand on Ultima weapon's handle. Amaterasu made a small noise, feeling the pain in her leg, but she made the effort to grab onto the handle of his Keyblade. She could feel the presence of more Heartless starting to emerge from the area. "Let's get this over with quick…" Amaterasu said staring at Ignis; he was starting to move again, and the Heartless were advancing quickly. '_Thank you Riku, and you to Vieh…_' she thought able to catch their images for a spilt second, '_I want to see you guys again, real soon…_' a strange energy was starting to form around Ultima, the presence of light and darkness were starting to intertwine with one another.

**With the others **

"Look!" Marlene cried out in alarm. The pale blue moon was glowing brighter and brighter than ever before. Cloud and Aerith looked up noticing that the pieces of the moon were starting to break apart quickly. "It's breaking away…" Denzel said pointing to the cracks that were starting to form around the strange heart shaped moon.

"Did they do it?" Cid asked looking back at the others. "Yeah…" Yuffie and Yomigami said, they had faith in the four of them, "they wouldn't let us down." There was a loud _boom_ within the sky, and blue and white energy was seen visibly from space, and all around the other worlds, those that were taken in by darkness returned, and so did its inhabitants, those that had sought refuge in other worlds found themselves back within the walls of their home.

_I can finally take the time to breathe! _

There was a distress signal coming from the middle of the desert where the crossroads were at. Versus and a several other soldier took the moment to go and retrieve the person that was there. In another room, deep within the city the Princesses of Heart woke up, a bit shaken up but nonetheless they were alive and well now. Kairi opened her eyes slowly hearing Naminé laugh happily. "Naminé…?" she asked softly sitting up, her head was spinning. Memories rushed through her head from the battle with the Dark Master. "So… Sora?" she asked looking around, but she couldn't find him within the room.

"You're awake…" Rinoa said happily smiling warmly at Kairi. "Looks like they did it…" she said punching her fist happily into the air, "Come on!" she took Kairi away from the room and showed her the stars that were appearing the night sky. Blue and white light crystals rained down from the heavens, giving back to the worlds the hearts that they lost. Lightning watched as the events unfolded, happy couples were hugging one another, others were shouting with joy, some were jumping, others wanted to go and get a drink. '_You all did a good job…_' the Heartless thought hearing the laughter of her 'friend' Amaterasu running through her mind. She felt something lightly touch her cheek, and looked up as a warm light touched the tip of her head, and at that point she smiled.

_We did one heck of a job! _

Rinoa finally heard Squall say those three little words she had been wanting to hear for so long, and kissed her lightly on the lips. Yuffie and Reno got pictures of the event hoping to use it for black mail or something. Sephiroth and Cloud were seen standing side by side watching the sky as more stars continued to form. Tifa and Zack looked at the event with Marlene and Denzel from a good distance. Aerith stood near Cloud and Sephiroth and enjoyed the fact that they weren't fighting. Rude, Reeve, Cid, and Shera seemed to have a great burden lifted from their shoulder, and Nanaki stood by Shelke and Vincent as they watched from the rooftop of a nearby building.

Kairi looked around hoping to catch a glimpse of her friends, but she didn't find anyone. As she turned the corner she found someone else, "Hey…" the figure said waving a hand. "Yomigami!" Kairi said waving happily, "do you know where…?" he shook his head and noticed the pained look on the Princess of Heart.

"They'll be back though…" Yomigami said looking up at the sky, "I mean, what kind of friends would they be if they didn't?" Kairi nodded hearing Yomigami's words. A familiar ninja appeared and jumped on the older male, and he laughed. "They did it!" the ninja said happily kissing the side of Yomigami's cheek.

Versus and his soldier came back with the four vehicles, and three keychains found near the sight. One of his soldiers carried back a familiar silver hared teenager, and another one carried back a small bundle of silver fur. "Riku!" Kairi cried happily running towards her friend.

_So now what? _

_We wait I guess… I mean we're within the Kingdom now, what else do you expect? _

_I thought we would get to leave, I guess there's still more work to be done. _

_How long do you think it'll take us now? _

_They're gonna be mad at us… _

_I'm sure they'll understand. _

_Hey did you make your choice? _

_Yeah… I mean there's light, twilight, dawn and dark, or night whatever you call it. Night is the only one left. _

_Welcome to the group, Dark. _

_Shut up, Light. _

_Ha! I guess its balanced now… _

**A/N: Expect the epilogue soon!**


	43. A New Tale

**A/N: Here you go you guys, have fun with this! **

**Sorasheart281: **Thanks for the review! And well I'll say no more… Just read it. Naw I'm kidding, thank So much. Enjoy the epilogue and here's a cookie!

**Xejicka: **Aw come on don't cry it's the beginning of the end… Okay so yeah I know what you mean. Well I won't say anything about Ammi or Sora for now, but I won't say you're wrong about that either.

**Rozen:** I won't tell anyone about your plans, I think I'm forgetting them anyway, but I mean they were so good, now I wish I wasn't forgetting them. Rozen-senpai you know I take your advice seriously, be sure of that all right. Anyway here's a present of some sort, so thank you so much!

Current mood of inspiration was a song titled '_Swaying Emotion_' from the .hack//GU soundtrack!

On with the finale/epilogue chapter!

**Epilogue: A New Tale **

_Maybe things won't be so bad… _

_Still it'd be nice to go home… _

_Those guys, why are they chasing us anyway? _

_How the hell should I know? _

The sun was starting to go down again on the small little chain of islands where Sora and the others lived on. Everything was quiet, since Sora wasn't around causing a lot of trouble, and that was a problem, you see he left a lot of friends behind. The young teenage red head, and older silver hared teen, not to mention the others, like Tidus, Selphie, Wakka, and all the others. Still everyone was glad to see their homes once again. Life went on it the same boring routine as it always did, according to Kairi and Riku for now.

Riku picked himself up, from sitting on the edge of the wall rocking back and forth a minute ago. "Let's go," he said speaking to the silver bundle of fur beneath his feet. The beast protested, "You always do that…" Riku said sighing for a moment. "Fine we're staying here for about ten minutes, but that's it, okay?" he tried to compromise with the beast, by picking it up. "You reek of expired sea-salt ice-cream…" he said moving the hound away from his nose, "I just gave you a bath three days ago!" the creature yawned and made itself comfortable on the boy's lap as he sat back down.

Riku watched the sun as it began to slowly descend. The reflection of the sun touched the ocean, giving it a peaceful setting, and the winds were just right. '_she loves days like these…_' he thought chuckling for a moment, '_I wonder how the sun sets where you are, Ammi?_' he looked up at the sky, as the twilight was beginning to set in, and then the night would come. He stared out in the distance again like he did for the past couple of months waiting for something to fall out of the sky.

"It never does…" he said softly and jumped off the wall, holding the creature underneath his arm. "Come on you fat blob…" he said placing hound in the basket attached to his two wheeled bicycle. He rode down the paved sidewalk that gave a pleasant view of the shore, and the sun. The teen rode on for what seemed like forever to him, but it was only about a thirty minute ride back home. Riku was wearing his school uniform, he had started his last year in high school and he couldn't have been happier.

Scratch that, he still didn't feel very happy, he was glad to be home, and see his other friends, but still there was an empty void in his heart, and Kairi knew how he felt. '_When are they coming home?_' he thought watching the shadows from the palms trees as he moved along on his bike. He still didn't know the answer to that question, and neither did the Princess of Heart.

_I never thought about that kind of stuff… You know, the possibly of it all. _

_We're being thrown into a war now. _

_Maybe Ignis was right… about the light. _

Kairi sighed for a moment watching the stars from her bedroom window. "There's Radiant Garden…" she said pointing to a shimmering bright star. It was hard to believe that the planet was very close to theirs. "I wonder how everyone is doing?" she asked herself sighing. "Tifa and Zack probably already got married…" she said smiling, "I wish them a happy marriage." The girl meant every word of it.

She sighed once more and looked at the white gown on her, she was dressed for her slumber, but Kairi didn't feel like sleeping. The weekend was going to start tomorrow, and she just didn't want to snooze right now. "I get the feeling that if I fall asleep, I'll miss something important…" Kairi said softly, gazing at the stars. That is where her habit came from now, because she was on the look out for them during the night, and Riku's was in the day.

Riku yawned bidding his mother goodnight and went up stairs to his room, with the silver creature scurrying alongside him. He smiled wearily and opened the door to his room on the far corner of the hall. He was wearing black boxer shorts, and he just sat there on his bed lost in thought. He wasn't tired, or rather he hadn't been tired for a couple of weeks from now. Something was getting to him; he just didn't know what it was. The hound jumped on the bed and plotted its silver furred body next to its master and sighed in content. The teen leaned over the left and grabbed something from his nightstand, a blue mp3 device turned on as his fingers lightly touched the buttons. "Come home soon, Amaterasu…" he said turning off the device and rolling over on his bed, the hound growled feeling the mattress move around as Riku pulled the covers.

**E p I l o g u e **

A young figure yawned for a moment lazily rolling over to the side, and mumbled something. "Uh…" she realized whose name she had called out in her sleep and pouted. The figure yawned again feeling something strum within her heart, it was nostalgia in a sense. She sat up and stretched for a moment, letting her muscles relax, and waking up her brain. "Another morning… another daaayyyyy…" she said yawning out the last word lazily and fell back on her bed, surrounded in pastel blue sheets with black and dark blue checkered borders all around. She was wearing pastel blue shorts and a white undershirt.

"DARK!" someone yelled from downstairs, it sounded oddly familiar. She covered her head again with the pillow and tried to go back to sleep. "DA…RK…!" the voice stretched out her name now. "WAKEY, WAKEY, NOW!" she tried to drowning out the yells but it was no use as of right now.

"NO!" the girl cried out opening her door and slamming it again. The sound of feet rushed up the flight of stairs, and she didn't have enough time to lock the entrance. Before long she was pouting at the figure in front of her. There was a male teenager wearing a black undershirt and beige shorts. "Light, you idiot, do you have any idea what time it is?!" she said pointing to the alarm clock in her room.

"One, fifteen in the afternoon…" Light said blinking back in confusion to the girl. "Where the heck is your brain?"

"That's what I'd like to know…" she said stretching again. "Did you save me some breakfast…?" she asked laughing nervously. Light nodded and sighed.

"Now, come on, Dark. We get to go home today!" Light said happily jumping up and down. "Oh man, wait till they see us now!" he said almost skipping for joy!

"Don't do that in public…" the girl said known as Dark. Light sighed and smiled back at the girl. The girl in turn smiled to Light, the boy. "So then, today's the day…" she said spinning around for a moment. "YES!" she cried out pumping her fist into the air.

"Last one to the table is a Heartless!" Light said racing his friend down the flight of stairs quickly.

"I like Heartless…" Dark said softly taking her time as she walked towards the table now. She descended the flight of stairs, and slowly made her way to the cold tiled floor. '_I should've worn socks…_' she thought as she felt goose bumps ride up her skin.

A young woman greeted the two of them today instead of the man of this here household. She was a pleasant woman, roughly around her late 30s, with short brown hair and green eyes. The woman always wore a smile on her face, and she is was the house nanny when the owner was out of town or at work. "I trust the two of you slept well?" the woman asked and both of the teenager nodded happily. "You excited about going home now?" the woman asked, watching the bright happy smiles on their face. "Good, now eat up, I saved you two breakfast. I'll tell Mr. Brooks you said goodbye."

"Thank you Ms. Lila Ser!" the two of them said running towards the breakfast table.

"Hey… I thought you ate breakfast…" Light shook his head as Dark asked the question. "I was waiting for you to get up, Uma-" Dark caught him off by stuffing toast in his mouth.

"You know we can't…" she whispered harshly, eyeing Ms. Lila Ser, "Only Mr. Brooks knows our real names… If the others… You know they'd kill us all in a heart beat!" she said and picked up her cup of coffee, and sipped it slightly. "Sorry _Light_, we're stuck with these _nicknames_ till we leave the town."

Light sighed heavily and complied with the rule, it was true after all. They ate their breakfast as quickly as they could and soon after they went into their own separate rooms to gather their things, and get dressed. Light came out of his room wearing a shirt that had a checkered border at the bottom, and a silver design on the front, it looked like a giant X, and running down the middle of the shirt was a zipper. On top of that he wore a modified black shirt that acted as a sweater, with one buckle to close it (but he never does), and a hood in back of it. He wore gloves of the same design as his shirt, not the one with the hood. He wore black shorts, that went a bit further down to his knees, with silver lining, and had some loops attached to them and pockets, and black shoes with silver straps.

Light sighed for a moment and walked across the hall and knocked on the door with a medium black dot in the middle. This was how they told the rooms apart, Dark had a black spot on her door, and Light had a white spot on his.

"Are you ready?" he called out hearing her singing something, "come on Dark we're going to be late!"

"Coming…" she said sighing for a moment. '_Mr. Brooks is risking his life just by feeding us, let alone letting us live here…_' Dark thought and finished tying her shoelaces.

Dark stood up and looked at herself in the mirror and smiled looking pleased with her reflection. She wore black cargo pants with shoes that matched, not to mention several pockets on the sides of the pant legs. Her t-shirt had a strange heart shaped insignia on the front in red stitching, and on the back were little wings stitched in white. Gloves covered her hand as they had the same design as her shirt, but she didn't wear a sweater like her friend Light. She paused for a moment as her hand lightly rested on the doorknob.

**_Viator of Atrum, Atrum Procer, Volo vos puteus in vestri iter itineris _**

"Thank you," she said smiling happily. "I'm grateful for having you watch over us." Dark said turning the knob on the door. "Oh… wait…" the most important thing she forgot was tucked inside one of the drawers from the night stand. She ran back and searched through the piles of clothing stacked inside. "Thank the gods…" the teen whispered pulling out the item, placing the keychain within her grasp.

**_Vir of Lux lucis, Electus Unus of vesica of key, Volo vos puteus in vestri iter itineris _**

Light nodded whispering 'thanks' and watched as Dark came out stuffing something into her pocket. "Let's go…" the male teenager said walking down the stairs. "Bye Ms. Ser!" they both said and walked towards the wooden door. "Take care you two!" the woman replied. Dark walked out the door and waited for Light on the other side, he was still in the house. The male teen checked around the living room to make sure the woman was out of sight and then opened the lid of a grand piano stationed in the corner. He pulled out a necklace, several key chains, and a letter with a stamp on it.

With that the two walked off down the street of this town, and watched the sun as it started to move about in the sky. Dark looked back at the elegant house in which they had stayed in, and sighed knowing that she was going to miss the company of the man they called Mr. Brooks. Light was going to miss the old man's company as well; he had been very kind to them when they arrived. The female teen pulled the letter away from her companion and looked at it. "So then, we're suppose to meet them at 5?" she asked, and Light nodded looking at the road ahead. There was only one path there in that grassy field. "Let's run for it…" he said with a smirk on his face as the two sprinted across the path.

Dark watched as they came across the sign that read 'Thank you for visiting Amber Pacific'. They were out of the town now, and they both expressed their happiness. Light placed the necklace over his head and breathed in the air like if it had a different aroma to it. Dark stretched again feeling her muscle ache a bit after the run. She pulled out the keychain she stuffed into her pocket, and held it out towards the sun watching it gleam for a while. "It's been so long…" she said smiling happily.

"Hey!" Dark stuffed her keychain back into her pocket, and Light took off the necklace quickly and forced it down his pocket. The two looked ahead past the horizon and noticed something running towards them. "Shit…" the two teens said hearing something call them out, "this better not be an ambush…" Light said looking back at Dark. The teen girl growled feeling her fingers grow, and fangs brushing against her lips. "Relax…" the boy said looking back at his companion, but her eyes turned yellow, "they haven't done anything yet."

"I can sense them though…" the girl said growling more. "They're at the horizon, waiting for us to move." They both noticed the solo figure coming to a stop halfway.

"I got you now you bastards!" the figure said yelling triumphantly. "You can't run away from us forever!"

At the sound of the figure's last words shadows emerged from the ground around the boy and the girl, and they stood back to back now. "This is just great…" Dark said hissing at the Heartless around her. "I know… I'm looking forward to kicking their ass, it's been a while," Light said smirking. "But we can't…"

"I know _Light_," the girl said jumping forward with her claws ready to strike. "Not until we get home…" a Neo Shadow jumped into the air mimicking her moves with swift speed. She lifted her knee and bashed the head of the Neo Shadow with her leg. It fell down and several other yellow eyed Heartless moved forward.

"Freeze!" Light said noticing that some Neo Shadows stopped moving within the time frame. He let his body turn as black as night and felt his claws connect with the flesh of the dark creatures. He ripped through the arms of the shadows, and stabbed one in the chest. Time finally moved forward for the injured Heartless and they twitched as the blows finally caught up to their bodies. The figure in the distance smirked and ran forward with his weapon held high in the air. Dark finished her part, not even using her whole strength and looked back at Light, he had gone wild with his feral state.

She looked back and noticed the familiar weapon as the male figure came running down the path. '_No…_' she thought running forward letting her friend take care of the rest. The figure watched as Dark stood in the path of his blade. "Now you DIE!" the figure said bringing his weapon down, a dark aura hovered over the girl's body and she smirked, time moved slow for her now. Dark put her palms together within less than a nano-second and caught the mysterious weapon, it was five millimeters away from striking her head.

"What was that you said about _dying_?" she asked flashing her yellows at the figure, she smiled menacingly. The figure could only see her black Heartless like body, her white fangs, and terrifying yellow eyes. "Now listen here you lowlife… I… WANT… TO… GO… HOME!" she yelled violently, and a scream erupted from the figures throat.

**E p I l o g u e **

Riku stared out into the morning sky, watching as tinges of purple and gold collided with pink clouds. Something had woken him up, but he just didn't know what it was. "A voice…?" he asked himself thinking about it for a moment. "It sounded like one… For some reason, it sounded like _her_ voice, but that's…" he sighed heavily shaking his head for a moment. '_Get a grip Riku, it was just a dream, nothing more…_' he thought looking at the shore in the distance. "Vieh…" he said looking back at the hound. "We're going…"

"Again…?" the hound replied sounding more asleep than awake. "We went out yesterday... she said she'd come back, you heard her, now stop worrying." Vieh said coldly opening one eye, yellow eyes staring at the turquoise eyes of the teen.

"It's almost going to be a year!" Riku said closing his fist. "Something's wrong… I can feel it."

"Then wouldn't have Kairi called you…? I mean she's connected with Sora and no doubt she would sense something if things did go wrong for them… maybe you're just over reacting because she's with Sora…" Vieh said yawning loudly, sticking out his pink tongue, and showing his fangs.

Riku winced slightly feeling something hit his shoulder, and he rotated his arm around to get the pain to subside. Vieh had a point, as much as he didn't want to admit it, but still he didn't want his worry to be caused out of jealous, it wasn't like him at all. The teen sighed again and stared out watching the people walk by his house. '_No doubt Kairi's still asleep…_' he thought leaning forward towards his window, '_It's early… __4:45__ in the morning, dawn begins in fifteen minutes…_' he thought smirking to himself. '_Lucky me…_' he thought. "Vieh we leave in 15 minutes, okay?"

"Even if I say 'no', you're going to drag me along on your bike," the beast said rolling over to its side. "I hate being in this state…" he said whining for a moment.

Kairi rolled around lazily in her bed and sighed softly, pulling her blue sheets over her head. "I don't want to wake up…" she said staring at the blue fabric that covered her face.

_"You know maybe we should turn back…" a voice said looking back at the girl in back of him. He couldn't make out her face. "I mean they…" _

_"We can't turn back, you know that…" the girl said softly and looked at the door before them. "This is the only chance we're going to get." _

_"I know but…" the voice was cut off as the door began to open, and light was filling the whole room. The figures covered their eyes and looked inside. "It's… empty…" they both said looking at one another. The door stayed open, but something made them look back in the opposite direction. Heartless were starting to pop up from every area. The sounds of Keyblades hitting Heartless were heard as the figures moved about, and a voice told them to stop, but they kept on fighting. _

_'Why have you come?' the voice asked. 'Your job is done… What is it that you want?' the voice echoed out loudly, and the Keyblades finally fell to the ground. 'That is why… I see then, you have both chosen your paths now. It's been a while since something like this has happened, and we are grateful, Dark, Light. Now quickly, hurry and come inside, we have much to teach you two.' _

"More dreams like that…" Kairi thought pulling the covers off of her. "I'm getting so sick of those dreams…" she said shaking her head. "I… That voice sounds really familiar but I can't think of the name… for either one of them…" she said sadly and closed her eyes. "But it feels like I know them…"

**E p I l o g u e **

Dark panted heavily falling to her knees, watching the dirt stained with blood. "They keep coming after us…" she said sadly looking at the deceased body that was close to her own, "we tell them to stop, but they won't… And more of them are coming after us with Keyblades…" she said looking back at Light. "We haven't done anything wrong… so why are they attacking us like this?" Dark asked herself.

Light picked up the fallen keychain from the deceased figure. "It's Fatal Crest…" Light said seeming a bit cheerful. "Man getting these key chains back is a hassle, at this rate I'm not going to have all my stuff back…" he thought and stared at the deceased figure on the floor. He said a silent prayer to the man, and shook his head. "Let's get going, Dark, or more of them are going to catch up with us." she nodded and stood up, noticing her shoes stained with blood.

"Just like last time…" she thought thinking back to a former memory. "I… I just really want to go home…" Dark said feeling tears form around her eyes. "Why can't they understand that?"

"I don't know…" Light said meaning it truthfully. "But why would the Keyblades be picking people like him? I mean, it didn't really feel like he had a strong heart…" he said walking down the dirt path.

"Well maybe… Maybe the Keyblade believes that something is wrong, you know?" she said sighing for a moment as they walked side by side. "At any rate, remember what that voice said?"

"Shit…" he thought back to the letter. "Dark…"

She nodded forgetting about her unanswered question, "We've got about fifteen minutes till five…" she said as they starting running towards the horizon. "I hope he's there…" she prayed trying to imagine a big red rocket, the Kingdom gummi ship that would take them back home.

The two figures ran down the road, towards the setting sun now, hoping to catch the faithful ship soon. Grass accompanied them with each step they took as they ran faster and faster till they felt that they would almost collapse. '_Not much farther…_' the girl thought feeling a big smile form around her lips, almost crying with joy. Light followed after her, his key chains were able to hang around his loops now, he was free from the town, but not from the Chasers.

They stopped suddenly noticing that the dirt road ended, and there was a grassy valley stretched out for miles. Dark looked back and noticed that the town of Amber Pacific was over a couple of hillsides. "This… This is where Mr. Brooks found us…" Dark said almost in disbelief. Light nodded and walked down towards the valley noticing something in the distance.

"You got my letter!" a familiar voice said, and a very happy canine came running towards Dark and Light, tackling them both with happiness. "Hey boy!!" the two friends cried out happily. "Hey don't be forgettin' about us!" two more figures came running down one of the hilly areas from the ship. "Hey!" the two other figures cried out happily, feeling tears run down their cheeks.

"Let's get goin'!" the one in charge said, as the figures escorted Dark and Light, with the familiar canine right by their side. "Sorry we took a while… We've been getting' chased too…" the one dressed in black said.

"It's all right." the two teens said smiling.

"Whatcha guys call yourselves now?" the taller figure asked noticing the figures dressed in entirely different clothing.

"Dark… " The girl said smiling slightly.

"Light…" the boy said looking back at the king for a moment.

They all looked around noticing that the canine was growling at an unseen force. Dark growled again feeling her eyes turn yellow once more. "Why…?" Light asked furiously and noticed more Heartless come their way. In the distance they noticed several white figures come about. "Nobodies…?" they all asked one another.

**E p I l o g u e **

"WHERE ARE THEY?" the person yelled out violently. Riku and Kairi flinched for a moment watching the figure summon two Keyblades. "I know they live here… Where are they?"

Riku pulled out his Keyblade and growled for a moment. "Even if we did know…" he said charging forward.

"We wouldn't tell you!" Kairi yelled out pulling her Keyblade quickly and following quickly behind.

The figure jumped to the side, and blocked Riku's attack clumsily. Kairi moved to the side and threw her Keyblade in a quick fashion watching it hit the person dead on. Riku spun around and felt his weapon collide with a mass of flesh and the figure groaned. The person jumped back taking time to recover, and breathed in for a moment. "They… are wanted by _us_… to take back the true power…" the person withdrew their weapon, "be sure to tell them the Chasers are looking for them…" with that the person disappeared from sight.

_We'll find a way to get back to you… Please don't worry. _

_So much knowledge that's stored in Kingdom Hearts, you think it can help us from repeating history again? _

_Knowledge speaks, wisdom listens… Funny, it's it? _

_I mean we haven't done anything wrong… _

_Maybe… it's because we stayed… _

_It's empty… or maybe that's what we want to see… _

_Where are they? _

_I can't let you get to her… _

_I'll protect him with my life… _

_I'm giving this to you now, you must take this road for me. Don't worry, you'll do fine I'm sure of it. _

**E p I l o g u e **

In the distance of a frame there are four paths with long winding roads, as all paths have at one point or another. The sun rises for them differently, and sets at different times, due to the fact that the four paths are in different time frames. One figure walks alone down the path where the sun shines brightly, and the person pauses to look up at the sky, stretching their hand out and pretending to grab the sun. Then, the individual continues to walk down the sunny path.

_That path of light where the sun never sets…_

In another road there are two figures walking down this path, as the sun begins to set. One figure is tall, while the other is short, but their height makes no different because their paths are the same. The two of them stop looking back at the long and winding road in back of them, so many memories that they have stored within their hearts. The taller one looked ahead now trying to picture the rising sun. They continue walking now, hoping to catch up with the others soon.

_Where the sun sets, and twilight begins… _

One figure is seen sitting down on the dirt path, staring up at the night sky, watching the stars blink, almost as if they are trying to say something. The figures summons a shadow with their left hand, so that person it not alone. This one walks down the path with the yellow eyed shadow. It is not sorrow, nor fear, neither power nor hatred, it could possibly be another emotion, on which the individual wishes to share. The night is that person's constant companion, and they are glad, but still it would be nice to see the sun rise.

_That path where the night bids goodnight to twilight… _

A figure is seen running down the path where the sun is beginning to rise, trying desperately not to lose sight of what's ahead. The person wants to see the others soon, so he begins his at dawn, like always. The path is beginning to end for that person as an intersection is beginning to loom over them. In the distance more figures are starting to arrive, and the person who started at dawn couldn't be happier. They all start running to meet up at the intersection.

_That path of dawn that vanishes the darkness with the morning sun… _

The pathways in back of them begin to disappear, as if a huge wind just blew them away like grains of sand. There another area forms, and more figures are seen coming after them with weapons ready at hand. The ones who are being attacks stand side by side with one another, not drawing their weapons yet. They don't want to fight with the others, there's no valid explanation.

_Long ago there was a great battle. _

_But they survived… _

_Their hearts… were the mightiest weapon of all… _

_There are two types… the one I told you about, from my side, and them… _

_We're taking back that Keyblade… _

_How can you trust her? _

_This time, we won't repeat history… _

_The door to light, and the door to darkness. _

_Maybe we weren't suppose to get those spheres… _

_You have his memories don't you? _

Keyblades finally clashed together, and sparks flew from the force of metal against metal. The setting seems dark, but still they all fight on with their hearts, not daring to give up now. They all want to win, even if it means death, but it's for a good cause. At least that's what they tell themselves as they fight. The ones from the four paths look in the horizon to see one figure that came from the path of light, and they look back at the other figure that is by their side. The new figure, from the path of light, runs quickly towards the old figure that treaded the path of light, and clashes their Keyblades together.

_Why? Tell me… Why did you side with the darkness? _

_I haven't done anything like that… _

_You know the door to the darkness, we have to lock it. _

_But how? _

_Maybe we're just going to have to be the darkness for now. _

_Working as spies, you think the others will agree…? _

_Right now, at this point in time there's a War. _

_The tale of the lost two… _

_Come home safely you guys… _

**A/N: There you go you guys! Um well if you have questions about anything I'll be glad to answer them… You know the drill! **


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